A Chance A Change
by PrimoFlame
Summary: Everything's been lost and he's broken. The adventure they had all come to enjoy has met it's untimely end and he was the only one left that could watch the aftermath. He is then given a chance to change it all and should he take it even more pain and suffering but the chance to save them all and he'd be damned if he didn't try.
1. Great God Ashura

Sitting here broken he could only laugh. He was willing to give up his life to protect them but how the table have turned. He watched as each and everyone one of them fell, those moments would haunt him for the remainder of his short and pitiful life. He had no concept of time he could have been sitting there for minutes or hours. None of that matters anymore, everything he ever cared for was dead before him. After what seemed like hours he finally stood up and walk over to one of his dead comrades, he kneels down and says,

"I'm sorry captain"

But once he saw his captains straw hat a meter away covered in blood he could no longer control it everything broke apart, he sobbed uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I couldn't protect everyone like I said I would. I'm sorry that none of you will ever achieve your dreams, just because I was too weak to stop them!"

He wanted so badly for a response he knew would never come so he simply sat there defeated. Until a gruff voice called out

_"Pitiful and to believe I had chosen you to become the next Demon Wind"_

He growled, "Who the hell is that"

The voice laughed and replied,

_"I am the great god Ashura and you pathetic human are who I had chosen to bring about the new age of chaos, sad that you were far too weak for such a simple task."_

The man exhausted just sat there in silence but he was seething. The voice now identified as Ashura laughs yet again,

_"I can feel the anger coming from you, I would taunt more for your pathetic nature but that is not why I am here."_

Finally having enough the man yelled,

"Then why are you here I have lost everything and you approach me and taunt me of the state I know I am in! The weakness I displayed with the death of my comrades! My inability to save all those I care about! Then why oh great fucking god Ashura! Why are you here!"

The shadows around him collect to create a man, or more so a shadow of a man with piercing red eyes but nothing else to him. He stares intently at the man before he finally speaks,

_"I am a god you measly mortal and I will be spoken to as one with respect."_

Ashura lets loose a blast of energy that shakes him to the core, he thought that this god would kill right there and then the energy recedes.

_"But I must say your a gutsy little bastard."_

Ashura laughs before quieting down and staring at the man again.

_"I have come here to give you a second chance of sorts, I believed that this was not to be the outcome of this fateful day. My fellow gods may have had a hand in this and I will not stand for my champion to lose. I am the great Ashura and you as my champion must become a demon that will tear through any obstacle that stands before you."_

He simply stares at the god before asking in a much quieter tone,

"Second chance?"

Ashura walks up to him

_"Yes, you pitiful man a second chance. I am a demon god the rules do not adhere to me as much as the others and as my champion, I have full control of your fate. With that, I ask you do you wish to save them?"_

It was an obvious answer and they both knew he didn't need to say it. Ashura smiles and say,

_"Then mortal you will be given a second chance. Do not squander this none have ever received a gift from the gods like this. And with that spread my name through the world and let it be known that none can challenge my power."_

Ashura creates a silver orb and shoots it at him, he experiences excruciating pain and before he blacks out he thinks,

"Shit should have asked what he meant by a second chance."

He wakes up disorientated, he has no idea where that blasted god had done but he said second chance so he could only hope for the best. Shaken from his thoughts, there in front of him a young boy with a straw-hat with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"So you're Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro"

**That's a wrap, I'd like to say it's a good start but I can't be sure since that my personal opinion. I'm gonna try to keep a few canon parts as close as I can get to the original anime but forgive me if I mess a few small details up since ya know One Piece has 800+ episodes now. Plus I have shit a memory. If you're reading this and like it thanks to you for reading if you hate it well I'm sorry it wasn't up to your liking. Before I forget all characters belong to Eiichiro Oda the only thing I own is a bit of the plot and the OC's if I put any.**


	2. Restart of an Adventure

**Disclaimer all most everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

He couldn't believe it, this is what his second chance was. A chance to rewrite his entire life up from the point he met Luffy. He would actually thank that bastard god if he ever saw him again.

_"Quite rude aren't you, you little bastard."_

He was annoyed,

"You're not gonna be in my head the whole time are you?"

Ashura snorts,

_"Course not I have much better things than to watch your pitiful life. But I will be around to make sure that none of the other gods will affect the events to come."_

Somewhat reassuring he returns from his conversation with the god to find Luffy an inch away from his face. He grunts in annoyance,

"What of it?"

Luffy just stares at him funnily then says,

"I heard you were some strong guy, so why are you tied to the post?"

Zoro says,

"A certain situation lead me too here."

Luffy just stares at him funnily again. Zoro sighs,

"Just leave me alone for now head to the bar and you will hear the story from a little girl called Rika."

Luffy just grins and laughs before running and dragging Coby along with him to the bar. Zoro simply sighs he could still barely wrap his head around the idea that he had traveled to the past. He wanted to change it so that none of his friends would die yes but once the past has changed the future outcome could be something completely different that he would have no idea how to react to. Sighing he just shakes his head none of that matters, all that matters now is that he become stronger so that no matter what enemy comes his way he could always protect his crew. With that he closes his eyes and falls asleep trying to recount everything that has happened on his time with the crew.

_"Wake up you little shit your rubbery friends back" _

Zoro woke up with a jolt groaning in annoyance towards the god in his head. He tilts his head up to look at Luffy grinning at him. He was about to say something before Luffy interrupts him with the widest shit-eating grin he's ever seen,

"You're not bad at all! I want you to join my pirate crew!"

Zoro stares forward before laughing.

"I'll join you crew but under one condition, I have a dream to become the World's Greatest Swordsman. If you ever get in the way of my goal I'll cut you down myself!

Luffy just smiles back at him,

"I would expect nothing less from the crew of the future Pirate King."

They both grin at each other before Luffy ask,

"But where are your swords?"

Zoro curses himself for forgetting that Helmeppo had planned to execute him, he was too caught up in the nostalgia of the moment.

"My swords are in the marine base Axe-Hand Morgan's son Helmeppo took my swords they should be in his room in the marine base."

Luffy simply grins before running...in the wrong direction. Zoro would have face-faulted if he wasn't tied up to the post,

"The marine base is the other way you moron!"

Luffy just grins at him before taking off in the right direction this time. Zoro simply sighs, he was in the past, yes, but would he be able to change what is to come? He angrily grunts, that shouldn't even be a question it doesn't matter he know he has to save them no matter the consequence this time around no one will die, he will save them all from their untimely demise. That's a worry for another time, right now he had to focus on surviving this and god damn was he hungry. He spots Coby peaking over the wall, he calls out to him.

"Hey, pinky come untie me from this cross. I'm sick and tired of waiting, I'll just go and cut up that marine captain myself."

Coby cries out before falling, Zoro simply sighs and thinks to himself how someone like that could ever become an marine Admiral. He would break himself out of these binds, but with the mixture of starvation and if he retained any of his abilities on his mind he would have to sit tight. After a minute or so Zoro see's Coby climb up the wall before falling over it, he rubs his head and groans before remember why he had done that. He quickly runs over and starts to untie the rope on Zoro, he quietly talks to Zoro.

"Helmeppo was going to execute you after today, he was never going to keep his promise."

Zoro simply grimaces at the pain racking his body before responding to Coby,

"Yea I assumed that the rat would never actually go through with the deal, but with my honor as a swordsman I could only comply to the challenge that I was faced with. But with that knowledge I might just cut up that bastard myself!"

Coby stays silent, in these few moments Zoro just stares at him wondering to himself how in the seven levels of hell did Coby grow so much from the time they first met him to the time he had arrived with Garp at Water 7. Chuckling he simply chalks that up as another mystery of the world like the devil fruits and that detestable love cooks ability to survive the loss of that much blood on Fish-man Island. His thoughts are interrupted by a crash of glass and a laughing Luffy landing not too far away from him.

"Heh took you long enough, I thought you got lost of killed in that marine base."

"Shishishi I'm gonna become the King of The Pirates I can let some dumb marines kill me now can I?"

Zoro smiles softly at him, this lovable idiot he wasn't going to fail this time he would save them all even if it cost him his own life to achieve that goal he won't let a single one of them die on his watch.

_"Die? You are my champion mortal, you do not get to choose when you die. You only die when I deem it so."_

The smile drops as Zoro recalls the god that I led him into this situation. He has so many question to ask him, why was he his champion, what's a Demon Wind, did other gods change how his story was suppose to end and does he still retain his power's from before he was transported back here. So much to ask him and he better get an answer or that blasted god will have hell to pay. But that will have to be done later now he has to focus on his captain, the idiot was grinning at him with all three of his swords in hand.

"Neh Zoro, I didn't know which sword was yours so I grabbed all three of them."

Zoro replies,

"All three swords are mine, I'm a user of Santoryu the three-sword style."

Coby had managed to untie one of his arms before the marines arrived with Axe-hand Morgan leading them, the bastard was as ugly as Zoro remembered. Though he had to wonder he had a metal jaw it was quite odd. Morgan yells at the marines to aim at them before yelling.

"Surrender now and we shall give you a less painful death wretched pirate!"

Zoro snorts knowing that Morgan was all bark and no bite.

"Hey, Luffy pass me my swords, I'll cut down this idiot for my first action as you first mate."

Luffy grins and him before giving Zoro his swords, with his swords finally back in his hands Zoro quickly cuts the ropes binding him. Finally free and enjoying the freedom he felt from being held captive he chuckles before readying himself to to cut down Morgan.

"You've been warned! Men fi-!"

Before he could even finish his sentence Zoro had cut him down, seeing his job done he places Wado Ichimoji back into it's sheath and walks away but not before leaving a statement to the remaining marines.

"Stand down, we won't hurt you unless you provoke us. Plus we all know that you guys feared Morgan as a Tyrant."

The marines collapsed before yelling in joy for being freed from Morgan's tyrannical reign. Luffy simply smiles at Zoro and Coby stares at him in awe, but Zoro disregards this and stares ahead onto the rising sun. A chance to make sure that nobody he ever cares about will die, it's not gonna be easy but when has it ever been easy. Laughing to himself before he finally turns back to Luffy.

"Hey captain let's get something to eat, being tied to that pole has left me really hungry."

Luffy's grin grows wider before he start running towards the bar and yelling about food. Zoro smiles at the sight before he turns back to the sun one last time before he follows Luffy.

"Demon Wind? Should get the marines to get me to start calling me that instead of Pirate Hunter."

**That's a wrap I feel like I might have dragged this out a bit longer than I should have but I'll wait for responses from others to see if I would change anything. If this is already known this story would be focused solely on Zoro and his quest to not only become the greatest swordsman but to make it so him and his nakama are strong enough to survive the catastrophic event that had costed the lives of all the Strawhats. With this story I'm not sure if I'll ever have any romance but I have a few certain ideas that I wished to try out and on the topic of Zoro ever revealing that he's from the future, well I have a bit of an idea for what to do but I'm not entirely sure with it yet so you'll just have to wait and see. Along with that I added in the little section where it is the only time in the whole history of One Piece where *gasp* Zoro knew directions, I might include the gag about Zoro's directional skills within my story I might not. I always felt that even thought they had a navigator Zoro as the first mate should have at least a semblance on an idea on navigation or I probably won't include the gag.**


	3. Demon Blood

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

After a short period of time spent Shell Town, Zoro and Luffy finally set off to the start of their adventure one that Luffy excitingly wishes to experience while Zoro dreads and is filled with self-doubt and worry. But he suddenly remembers a conversation that he needs to have with a certain god.

"Hey dumb god Ashura you there?"

Zoro doesn't receive an answer he comes to the conclusion that either the Ashura isn't paying attention to him or that he's just ignoring him due to the blatant disrespect that Zoro shows him.

_"Exactly"_

"Hmph didn't know gods were this petty, did I injure your little ego?"

Zoro hears Ashura growl in his head before he takes a more serious stance on the conversation that he is about to have with this god.

"Ashura how and why was I your champion? What this is Demon Wind thing you've been saying I was to become?"

_"You are my champion because I have noticed the carnage and destruction you brought upon your opponents and those that oppose you. This destruction is similar and passion I feel from you is not much different from the primal urges I feel for destruction. With that I had chosen you to be the next Demon Wind, a person that is a Demon Wind gains powers beyond your mortal comprehension. These powers usually drive a person mad but as I have seen through you it does not, these powers are similar to the blood lust you sensed from that sword of yours. What was it's name again? I believe it was called Sandai Kitetsu, curse blades usually contain tiny portions of demon blood that drives the blade to act in a behavior similar to those of true demons."_

He contemplates the information that he had just learned, the powers that he gains from being Ashura's champion was similar the blood lust he felt from Sandai Kitetsu? Sandai Kitetsu's blood lust did little to help him how is this a power of any sorts, it seems more like a hindrance than anything.

_"You misunderstand mortal, it is not the blood lust it self that is a power. No it is the demon powers that birthed Sandai Kitetsu which you shall receive."_

Gaining demon powers?

"Does this have anything to do with the Ashura Style I had obtained whilst battling Kaku at Enies Lobby?"

_"Yes, the power you had gained during that battle was the full power of the demon blood within Sandai Kitetsu surging within your body. It is with that battle, that I grew an interest in you had decided to name you my champion."_

He always knew that his Ashura form had something to do with Sandai Kitetsu, he just always assumed that simply because the sword was cursed and that it recognized him as his master. That it gave him a sort of power up or something he never knew that what powered Sandai Kitetsu was demon blood, he wondered that since it only contained a tiny portion of demon blood and it was so powerful, what would happen if a blade was given a mass amount of demon blood.

_"Almost no blade can handle even an ounce of demon blood. The ones that can are considered black blades and are absurdly powerful, one such is the blade Yoru wielded by Dracule Mihawk."_

"So becoming this Demon Wind is equivalent to me becoming as powerful as a black blade?"

_"How daft can you be boy! That blade can not be compared to the powers you will gain with being the Demon Wind!"_

Zoro was getting frustrated,

"Then give me a clear answer!"

Ashura is silent for a moment before he finally responds with an eerie clam tone,

_"Become the Demon Wind is not simply gaining power and a title, becoming the Demon Wind is forsaking your humanity and becoming one with The Demon of the Core."_

"Demon of the Core? Who's that?"

_"The Demon of the Core was my most powerful creation but it had one simple flaw it did no possess a physical body and I can not change something that has already come to pass. To rectify this mistake it will merge with a powerful human of my choosing once in a millennium to create the Demon Wind that in his years will create destruction and spread my name through the lands."_

Zoro is silent digesting all this information, forsaking one's humanity? Creating destruction? He had returned not to destroy but to save those he cared about.

"When I do merge with this demon what will happen to me?"

_"You shall disappear to the annals of your mind never to be awaken until your death or when the demon decides to leave your body."_

"So I'm just going to disappear! What kind of shit deal is that!"

Zoro is overcome with a great and sudden pain that riddles his entire body before it quickly disappears.

_"To become the vessel to The Demon of the Core is an honor and you will treat it as such!"_

"But to lose myself to it and losing myself at all is a disgrace upon my very being!"

Both were silent but seething in anger, unlike Zoro, Ashura quickly calms down before speaking to Zoro,

_"There is a way to not simply become a vessel."_

Zoro calms down but does not respond to Ashura

_"There has only ever been one human I have seen to be able to not become the vessel of The Demon of the Core. His name was Φλαμε and he possessed the willpower beyond any human I had ever seen and he had not allowed himself to become a vessel to him. He had befriended the demon as insane as it sounds, through shared carnage and destruction."_

With this new information Zoro smiles,

"Then I guess I have a demon to befriend in the future."

Ashura is silent until Zoro's mind is filled with a booming laughter,

_"I like you Roronoa Zoro, you're a gutsy little bastard and I can respect that. But befriending the demon will be no simple task, but I look forward to your attempts."_

"I'll exceed ever expectation you set for me you bastard god, I will become The Worlds Greatest Swordsman no measly demon will stop me!"

This time Zoro receives no response, he sighs as much false bravado he showed he understood that befriending demon bent of death and destruction will be in no part an easy task but he must steel himself for what is to come.

"Wait a fucking moment I forgot to ask about my abilities!"

"Ehh Zoro what you talking about?"

Zoro looks up to see Luffy's face inches from his before groaning,

"Nothing Captain."

Luffy simply smiles before returning to his activity of groaning and complaining about the lack of food they had. But he suddenly perks up Luffy notices an eagle soaring above them.

"Ahhh Zoro food."

Luffy stretches hims arms out to reach for the eagle which he successfully does but is yanked off the boat by the eagle's talons.

"ZORO HELP ME!"

Zoro groans even more before rowing with all his might while muttering about his idiot of a captain.

**That's a wrap, this story is coming around nicely in my own personal opinion. The only problem I have is that I seem to drag on the story necessarily and I find that quite annoying or maybe it's just because I'm typing all of this out that seems to be dragged out a bit. But besides that I have a slightly clear idea of a couple OC plots that I could add into the story but I probably won't add those until we get at least Sanji and enter the Grand Line. But to whoever's reading this and enjoys it thanks for being here.**


	4. Enter the Cat-Burglar

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

She saw and opportunity and took it, too bad that kid would have to take the blame for her actions. But then again when did she ever care, well damn now she did. Sighing she snuck back to where she had left that straw hat boy expecting to see him captured or beat up at least, but to her surprise she found him unharmed while the three pirates were all knocked out on the ground.

"Wow I didn't think you were strong at all, you seemed pretty scrawny."

Luffy turns towards her before sporting a face of annoyance

"Who are you? Why did you call me boss?"

She grins at him,

"I'm Nami and I'm a thief that robs pirates."

Luffy was about to say something before his stomach growls and he slowly slides down to the ground repeating the words hungry over and over again. She stares at him oddly before smiling again,

"Well as thanks I could treat you."

The reaction was instant,

"Really?! Yay food, food, food, food!"

Nami could only sweat drop at his actions, she was about to say something before she hears a voice call out this one much gruffer,

"Oi, Luffy don't just go get caught by an eagle like that. You know how hard it was to row here in that short period of time."

Luffy looks at him and grins,

"Shishishi, gomen I was hungry and saw food."

Zoro just sighs at his actions before looking at the girl beside him, eyeing her he ask,

"And who are you?"

Nami fells on edge at the arrival of this green-haired swordsman, he looks oddly familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it. Deciding to play it safe she introduces herself again,

"My names Nami and I'm a thief that robs pirates."

She notices a glint of disregard and sadness within his eye. He finds that suspicious but fills that away for a later date, just knowing to be careful of this green-haired swordsman.

"As I was saying I was saying to you friend, I could treat you guys to a bit of food..."

Luffy returned to his celebration and Zoro looks at her quizzically.

"...but at a price."

Luffy deflates just slightly and Zoro turns away trying to look annoyed but has a small smile on his face that doesn't go unnoticed by Nami. She see's his behavior as odd cause usually people would be annoyed at her money grabbing antics.

~A While Later~

Zoro heads towards the area where he knows Buggy is, this time he isn't going to drop his guard and get stabbed like an idiot. Unbeknownst to him he was being tailed by Nami who was intrigued by his behavior, she found how he acted to be quite odd and she didn't like it. So she followed him in hopes of learning more about the green-haired swordsman, she watches as he enters Buggy's lair something which she found incredibly reckless. She instead of following him snuck onto one of the houses next to it to spy on what he was doing. She could barely see but it seem's that Zoro was challenging Buggy's crew, she cursed that idiot for rushing into a den of pirates all alone. But what happened next really surprised her, Zoro not only didn't get injured but with his swords defeated Buggy's whole crew alone before using a move to disrupt Buggy's weird ability. She was in awe of the power that Zoro displayed but was never one to waste an opportunity, so she ran to try find Buggy's treasure within the compound.

"They were even weaker than I remembered, god it's such an embarrassment to to be driven to that pitiful state by these second-rate pirates."

Zoro had just finished off Buggy's crew and used Tatsumaki to send Buggy's bits flying away, he really didn't want to deal with that annoyance of a pirate again. He looks over and finally notices the orange-haired girl sneaking into the compound, he re-sheaths his swords before slowly following her. Quietly contemplating how to deal with this situation, he arrives to find her trying to break into the Buggy's treasury.

"You need some help?"

She jolts back in surprise at his sudden appearance, before calming herself

"I don't see how you could help but sure."

Zoro simply grunts at her before readying his blades,

"Nitoryu lai: Rashomon!"

He had remembered every move he had before, the only uncertainty was the power of the strike itself. He knew how to do it buy was not sure if he was powerful enough to achieve what he wanted. But this time luck was on his side though not as powerful or as clean as a cut he used to do it still achieve what he wanted, the vault door was split in two allowing him and Nami to enter the room. Nami could only stare in shock as she watched him slice the vault door open, he is overcome with a moment of fear before she steels herself and returns to her task.

"Ne what were you looking for anyway?"

Nami doesn't look up from her search but answers,

"I found out that Buggy had possessed a map of the Grand Line and was hoping to snatch that up along with any gold I could get my hands on."

"But why would you need a map of the Grand Line?"

Nami freezes for a moment thinking of an excuse to give Zoro,

"T-t-that's none of your business!"

Zoro just grins at her before leaving her alone in vault but not before giving her one last statement,

"Fine, fine but you should know. The Captain's still looking for a navigator and he seems dead set on you being that, and as a warning I should tell you that he's very stubborn when it comes to what he wants."

Zoro walks away but looking over his shoulder he could see Nami grimace, he laughs and heads towards the house that he remembered that Luffy was in. He notices some sake in the corner of the room and smiles to himself, he takes a swig of the sake before plopping himself down for a nap. But before that can happen he hears Luffy yelling at him.

"Neh Zoro where were you and where did Nami go? I want her to be our navigator!"

Zoro chuckles to himself before responding,

"I went to deal with Buggy and his crew, and Nami well she went to steal some treasure. She might be back later maybe, maybe not we'll see."

"You defeated Buggy? Neh Zoro why are you so selfish! Why didn't you leave any of them for me to fight!"

Zoro felt a headache arise from talking to Luffy and growls out,

"Well that's your fault for just sleeping here! You could have gone and dealt with Buggy too!"

After that line Zoro tunes out Luffy's yelling, he recounts his fight and cutting open the vault. He possessed knowledge of his abilities but was he powerful enough to do them was the only uncertainty he had, the only difference he knew was that his body was nowhere near as strong as his in the future. He knew that he would have to put his body through hell and more to not just become as strong as he once was but to far surpass the strength he possessed. Sighing to himself, he knew that he would never catch a break but he knew now was not the time to worry about that. There was still a long time before the event would play out, yes there will be obstacles along the way but he will overcome them along with his crew like he always did. With that thought he closes his eyes and tries to sleep but not before a certain god enters his mind and gives him a simple but hard statement.

_"For your sanity I hope you can overcome them."_

**That's a wrap as you can see I'm kind of fast tracking the East Blue Saga a bit. I know this is a pivotal point in the story but I find it unnecessary to show every detail of the story, this has nothing to do with me not remembering every detail of the stories. Honestly while writing this I was dreading to write a fight scene cause I don't think I could depict combat in a way that doesn't seem odd, so I kind of skipped over the whole part and just telling you guys that Zoro defeated them. I know I won't be able to do this forever and most definitely the next chapter will contain a fight since they will encounter Ussop and The Kuro Pirates.**


	5. The Honorable Liar

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Looking back at some of the people he fought Zoro could only grimace at the thought that some of these people were even a challenge for him to defeat. Buggy was one of them that man was pitiful and to believe he was once of the ship of Gol D. Roger, the next thought came to the two pirates in which he would fight at Gecko Island. The Kuro Pirates, the only person note-worthy would be Kuro himself, his pirates not so much. To believe that he had struggled against the two Banyan Brothers Sham and Buchi, they were terrible excuses for pirates. Granted he struggled against them because they had stolen two of his swords, but still the shame of being pushed back by these two second-rate pirates was intense. He would be damned if this situation repeated itself, he was determined to not let the events happen again as a swordsman losing his swords was the same as cutting of a limb and he will not allow it. He looks over to see Luffy, Nami and Usopp all eating whilst talking among themselves, he didn't need to pay attention since he already knew what was to happen on this island. Looking at Usopp, Zoro can only think of what will happen, everything from him joining the crew to the fight between him and Luffy over Merry to his demise at the final island. Thinking that he had spaced out enough he finally starts to pay attention to the conversation between them,

"Neh Usopp do you know a place where we can get a ship?"

Usopp answers but he seems a bit reluctant,

"Yea, the girl that lives in the mansion. Her names Kaya if anyone could get you guys a ship it would be her!"

Luffy grins and responds,

"Then lets go see her now then!"

But before they could do anything Usopp stops them,

"You should wait, the town won't take kindly to pirates just storming the mansion. Let me deal with this, this town is my home anyway I think it would be better if I were to ask rather than you guys."

Luffy pouts and is about to argue before he is silenced by Nami's fist, Nami gives Usopp a sure before letting Usopp run off to Kaya. Zoro simply grins as he sees Nami's violent tendencies finally arise before shuddering knowing that he will be at the other end of it one too many times. Luffy runs after Usopp despite Nami yelling for him not to follow him, Nami simply sighs before turning towards Zoro. Nami doesn't know what to think of the swordsman, their first encounter had lead her to think that there was something odd about him especially the look of recognition and sadness within his eye once he saw her. She wasn't sure how to feel about or even how to face him about it, this feeling was not something she enjoyed. But this situation may be the only time she could try decipher this puzzling swordsman the only question was whether or not she was brave enough to do it. She had seen him decimate Buggy's crew and she was not foolish enough to think she could fight him if he were to take offense to her questions. Lucky enough for Nami she didn't need to initiate the conversation as Zoro had noticed her concentrated gaze on him.

"So what seems to have you stumped?"

Nami was cautious of her next words hoping not to anger the green-haired swordsman,

"Besides the fact that we have an idiot for a captain, you."

Zoro just chuckles at her,

"I'm not that much of an enigma am I?"

That statement frustrated Nami to now end, he was hiding something and he knew it. But then again she wasn't much better, she was hiding many things too but she would never tell him. She hoped that she could get Zoro to crack, simply because she hated not knowing something.

"You know you are! It's so obvious that you're hiding something, Luffy may not know it but I'm not stupid enough to not notice it!I can't trust someone who seems to be hiding something that may affect my own well-being!"

She instantly regretted her outburst as his jolly expression dropped and he gained a much more serious expression. This was the outcome which she had wanted to avoid and in a flash of her uncontrollable emotions she had failed.

"Trust is something which is earned not simply given, we may be on the same crew but that does not mean I will completely trust you with my life. You said it yourself you can't trust someone who seems to be hiding something that may affect my own well-being. How is this situation any different from yours, I'm hiding something, you're hiding something, both which may or may not affect the crews well-being. Her frustration is understandable but your outburst was not warranted since I'm not the only one hiding something now am I?"

She let a breath out that she didn't even know she was holding, he's smarter than he let on to be. She just hoped that he wouldn't discover her secret before she had taken what she needed and escaped, but in that one moment that's when she believed that her luck had failed her.

"You may not know my secret and I'll like to keep it so, but the same can't be said about yours. You're the cat-thief, the orange-haired girl that snuck on to pirate ships stealing treasure from them then running away. Many don't know why you do what you do, but I am not part of that many."

"W-w-what do you mean, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Zoro's gaze softens just a bit, before he stands up dusting himself off right before he exits the building he leaves Nami with a statement that shocks her,

"You really fear Arlong that much?"

That simple statement had caused Nami to tone out the rest of the world and freeze, how could Zoro have known about Arlong it shouldn't have been possible. She wanted to chase after him and demand to him to tell her how he knew, but her body wouldn't move and she knew that he would most certainly not tell her. She gets up to try chase after her but the shock of the statement and his knowledge of her secret had hit her harder than she imagined cause the moment she stood up she had collapsed onto the ground. The only good thing to come from that situation was that he wouldn't kill her for what she would most likely do.

~With Zoro~

_"Do you think that was a wise decision mortal? You wish to save all your comrades but that move may just push one of them away."_

Sighing Zoro knew he was right, what he just pulled may have just caused Nami to distance herself not just from him but from the crew entirely. This may lead to her actually dying at the hands of that insane fishman, something which he would not wish to happen to someone he cared about.

"What's done is done. I might apologize to her later but that won't remove my actions and words during that conversation."

_"Quite right you are mortal. But now since you have time should you not train to try become powerful enough to achieve your goal."_

Zoro had actually been too caught up in his thoughts lately to actually push himself to train, this was very surprising to him and he was disappointed in himself. He had came back to become more powerful than he could ever imagine to protect those he cared about and here he was lazing around. Starting now that has to change he must get stronger now and with the help of a god that would help him.

_"Should I actually help you, just because you're my champion does not mean I am obligated to help."_

"Do you want me to become the next Demon Wind or not?"

Ashura is silent,

"That's what I thought, now lets get in a bit of training before Kuro appears. While I'm training tell me more about The Demon of The Core."

Ashura sighs at him,

_"I have told you everything you need to know mortal. He is immensely powerful and the chances of you retaining your own conscious after he awakens are astronomically low. A ordinary man would stand little to no chance of ever stopping him from taking over, Φλαμε was different simply because he was not fully human he was a void-born and even then it was difficult to withstand the demons mental assaults."_

This information was puzzling to Zoro,

"What's up with his name and what the hell's a void-born?"

_"A void-born is a creature that is born from the dark abyss within the four corners of the universe, we call those four corners the four __voids. Creatures born in one of the voids are revolting creatures that wish only to destroy and kill._

"Has any of these creatures ever reached our planet?"

_"Yes, many have that was the whole point of the void century."_

Void Century, he had heard Robin mention that before. So whatever these void century was is tied to the void creatures, that was interesting but something he didn't need to delve into.

_"Φλαμε was actually the Demon Wind during the void century. Magnificent man he was, the carnage he brought about this world was beautiful beyond belief._

"So how was he any different from any other void-born?"

_"He was the only void-born that was also partially human, though I do not know of the circumstance in which he became like this."_

A void-born, human fusion well that sounds like a sight to see, doubtful that he would ever see one in his life time seeing as how rare Ashura made it sound to be.

"Ehh regardless I will become stronger. Though there are a few things about this whole time travel thing that I am still unsure about."

_"Like what mortal?"_

"I know I don't retain my body as shown through the many missing scars, but I was still able to use Rashomon even though I am much weaker now than I was when I created that technique."

_"Your powers aren't hinged just on your physical capabilities but also your mental capabilities and the strength of your soul. As a swordsman you possess a strong mental fortitude and your soul is almost completely attuned with your body. Transporting you back in time changed you to a much weaker version of yourself but the strength that was engraved into your soul will always remain there. There is no way from physically removing it from you short of removing your soul from your body, and you wouldn't want that now would you."_

An obvious answer, but what he learned made him happy that he wouldn't need to start completely from scratch his strength was still within him he just had to work to re-obtain them. Though out of everything what he wanted to know was if he still could access his Haki, simply because this will be one of the most valuable abilities he would need in his journey. Trying again and again the most he could muster of his Armament Haki was a bit of black on his fingertips, sighing he knew that this was a far-cry from what he should be able to do but it was a start. He had trained for hours losing track of time, he had managed in those few hours to push his Haki to it's limits making it so it would coat half of his palm, not as much as he would have hoped for but for a few hours great progress. He kept on training until he heard yelling he ran over to the noise to see that he had lost track of time too much and the invasion had already started and without him this time Luffy could barely fend them off and Nami and Usopp were about to be captured. Cursing himself for his tardiness he rushes into battle fully intent on testing his current abilities.

**That's a wrap I've decided to keep the canon arcs but the situations within them will change drastically. I find it too difficult to have the story resemble the canon story while also adding in my own takes on the story with Zoro from the future. I am creative to an extent but most of what was on this chapter was me just setting a few things straight and adding a few ideas that I may or may not play on later in the story. Though one thing I am certain of is that Zoro will be much stronger than the rest of the Strawhats throughout most of the story and he will train them to become stronger themselves. Will Zoro ever reveal that he's from the future I'm still toying with the idea so I'm not completely sure, but that's all for now until next time.**


	6. Landslide Victory

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Pathetic that was the only word Zoro could use to describe this battle, why Kuro would even accept these people into his crew was a mystery but he didn't have the time to think about it. He was slashing down the Kuro pirates in annoyance due to him actually having to deal with these canon fodder who were barely worth a second glance. Until the moment he had waited for the appearance of The Nyaban Brothers, he would make them pay for the humiliation that they had set upon them the first time they fought by utterly destroying them this time around.

"Come at me seriously or die where you stand."

Sham and Buchi looked at each other before laughing at him,

"You think you can defeat us we are the Nyaban Brot-"

3 seconds, that was the time it took for Zoro to close the distance between him and Sham slashing into his chest and incapacitating him. Buchi shrieks in horror and anger,

"You'll pay for that Roronoa!"

Zoro grins at him before readying himself,

"Please call me Demon Wind Zoro instead, Sanjuroku Poundo Ho!"

The air compressed projectile hits Buchi head on sending him flying into the Black Cat Pirates ship. Zoro happy with the results sheaths his swords before calling out for Kuro,

"Kuro of a Hundred Plans! Come out so I can cut you down myself!"

Oddly enough Kuro seems to have actually appeared right after Zoro had called out for him.

"Roronoa, no Demon Wind Zoro. Your presence in this battlefield is unprecedented but never the less I will win today and you will not be able to stop me."

Arrogant that was the one word he would use to describe Kuro, he was fine with that winning and watching his defeated look at the end will feel that much better.

"You never know until you try, so come down here and fight me like the man you aren't."

If that comment affected Kuro no would no since his face was still as blank as ever, he readied himself to fight and Zoro for once felt somewhat excited. Since Luffy had fought Kuro in the past timeline Zoro never did clash with him, he knew he was not overly powerful just that his speed was unmatched in the East Blue. This not only excited him but could also be used as training for his reaction time and speed, Zoro ignored the yells from Luffy and charged at Kuro.

"Foolish move swordsman you will never be able to catch me."

Kuro had disappeared from his spot, Zoro stood stock-still and closed his eyes. He knew he still possessed a portion of his Armament Haki but was unsure of his Observation Haki since he had not attempted to train it in the few hours he had. Now might not have been the greatest time to test it out but when was he ever known for making smart decisions. Everyone was silent watching the swordsman standing still in the middle of the battlefield, the Black Cat Pirates cheering for Kuro to destroy him, Luffy yelling at him for starting a fight with someone he wanted to fight, Nami and Usopp crying out in concern for his well-being, and lastly the one he was looking for Kuro. His movements were quick yes, but far from silent he didn't require Observation Haki to follow him. He readied Wado Ichimoji for a single strike,

"Ittoryu: Daishinkan!"

Many pirates observing this thought he was just blindly striking the Kuro Pirates laugh at him, but their laughter was short-lived when not only did Zoro's strike create a small shock wave but it had connected with the body of their captain Kuro. The shock that had hit the Kuro Pirates had lasted for seconds before they screamed in fear of Zoro, they ran back to their ship only to find that the body of Buchi which had slammed into the ship had made the bow collapse meaning that their ship was out of commission. They turned back to see Zoro standing over the body of Kuro grinning evilly at them before they had all collapsed in fear.

"Hmph too easy."

Zoro sheaths his swords and walks over to a tree to try take a nap, but is interrupted by Luffy yelling at him,

"Neh Zoro I wanted to fight the cat man! Don't go stealing other people's opponents!"

Zoro honestly did not want to respond but sighing he did,

"I didn't see you lay claim to Kuro as your opponent so I was open to fight him."

Zoro tunes out Luffy's yelling and looks at Nami, she's trying to hide herself away as much as she can. Zoro walks right up to her,

"Nami, we need to talk, later not now."

The tone in Zoro's voice didn't leave her much choice but to nod her head and try to keep herself away from him. Sighing Zoro follows Luffy and Usopp back to Kaya's mansion worrying about the conversation that he was going to have with Nami.

~At the Mansion~

Luffy and Usopp are celebrating their victory in which they did very little to contribute to I might say, while Zoro grabs any sake he can find to prepare himself for his talk with Nami. Chugging down an entire bottle Zoro then walks over to Nami grabbing her wrist and dragging her over to one of the rooms within the mansion, looking to see if anyone saw him before closing the door behind him and locking it. Nami unconfident with herself walks over to the bed and sits down not making eye-contact with Zoro the whole way. Zoro sighs rubbing his head for the ensuing headache timidly he ask her,

"Are you hurt?"

She shakes her head and doesn't utter a word, Zoro is unsure of how to proceed in this situation racking his brain he can only come to the conclusion that all this beating around the bush won't help his predicament. He takes a swig of his sake,

"Fuck it! I'm sorry dammit."

Nami is shocked by this outburst especially from the stoic swordsman, she finally looks up to him.

"I know what I said was out of line but what you said to me was just so frustrating considering the circumstance and that just slipped out of me."

Nami finally speaks to him,

"How did you know?"

Zoro freezes he didn't anticipate this hell this was barely a plan at all. He had hoped to wing it and pray that it would work itself out, not a great idea but it was working up until this point. He looks at her and sighs,

"I can't tell you. There are many things I know, and many more things I can't say. I know this might not be enough for you and I'm sorry but there are somethings I can't say not right now the time is not right."

Nami silently looks at him,

"I'm sorry to. I didn't avoid you because I hated you, no I avoided you because of how right you were and how easily you saw through me. I've never been exposed that quickly in such a manner and I didn't know how to react."

Zoro finally feeling that he had diffused the situation a bit smiles at her,

"Alright, I thought I had screwed up the crews chance for one of the greatest navigators that will sail the seas. Good to know I actually didn't."

"Though I have to wonder how your crew will handle the whole Arlong situation."

Zoro's grin drops, not at the thought of Arlong no. He thinks of the situation that had happened before Arlong, his battle with Dracule Mihawk. He was more powerful than we was when he first challenged Mihawk but nowhere near being able to defeat Mihawk much less fight an even battle with him. With this information should he challenge Mihawk this time? He had no chance to win no doubt but the fight with Mihawk had been a person defining moment for him. Yes he had already experienced once but he feels he needs to physically deal with it too. Nami takes Zoro's more serious expression as a fact that she had said something she shouldn't have an grows silent. Still unsure of what to do he looks up to see Nami with a more fearful expression, giving her a strained smile knowing what she must think.

"Don't worry about it, when it comes to it I will back you up."

Hearing this Nami perks up happy to know that even with her track record someone as powerful and loyal as Zoro would help her. Feeling emotions she hasn't felt in years she rushes forward and engulfs Zoro in a hug and thanks him repetitively. She detaches herself from him to notice the slight tinge of pink on his cheek, grinning to herself.

"We should probably return to the rest of the crew or they might assume we're having sex in here."

With that comment Zoro turns a much darker shade of red, he shoots up from his position and hurriedly leaves the room. Nami simply sits on the bed giggling at the swordsman embarrassment, before standing up and walks to rejoin the rest of them at the party. She grins as she watches Zoro avert his eyes in embarrassment, she then turns to Kaya and talks to her about acquiring a ship for the Strawhats and questioning her of what will happen to the Black Cat Pirates. Zoro watches her for a bit before grabbing some sake and leaving the mansion, they didn't know it yet but he couldn't afford to relax he needed to get stronger and he couldn't slow down or plateau. Training will dominate a large part of his life whether he liked it or not and he doesn't have a moment to spare, he must have his Haki coat at least up to his forearm and his swords by the time they enter The Grand Line.

_"I understand your need to become more powerful but aren't you pushing yourself too much mortal?"_

"I thought you wanted me to become stronger and spread carnage?"

_"I do. But I wish you to be able to do that for years to come, not to defeat a few measly opponents and work yourself to death."_

Zoro ignored his words.

_"I understand how broken you were to see your comrades dead before you, but working yourself so hard can only do so much."_

Zoro had enough,

"Then what do you want me to do! You tell me to get stronger one moment, but when I train to get stronger you tell me to calm down! You wouldn't be able to understand the feelings I had in that moment, the weakness how pathetic I felt! You're a god for hell's sake you can't even die you no nothing of how humans feel you damned fool!"

Ashura is silent and Zoro thinks that he has left him alone but Ashura responds in a much softer tone,

_"I know more than you think. I may be a god but I am a demon god, I may not feel those emotions due to my experience but as a demon god I understand negative emotions beyond your mortal comprehension."_

Zoro simply sighs and sit down, he was never like this before. The images of that day still haunt him now constantly reminding him of his weakness, he doubt they will leave him for a long time or if they ever will at all.

_"The difference is that this time you know you must get stronger and you have a time limit of sorts for it. That will make you drive to pursue greater and greater strength relentlessly, you possessed a much weaker drive for strength in the other timeline due to the fact that you knew you could achieve your goal any time. This time around you don't have that luxury, you will achieve great strength in astronomically short times I have no doubt. But you must know when you have done too much, your body is still not that powerful so you must slowly progress or you will destroy yourself forsaking both your dreams of the greatest swordsman and your goal of saving your friends."_

As much as Zoro wished to deny it he knew Ashura was right that didn't exactly make him feel much better with the images of his friends death still clear in his mind but it help him understand that there must always be a limit to how much he does. Sighing he takes a swig of the sake and proceeds to meditate.

~A While Later~

The Strawhats have acquired a ship and were practically ready to set sail the only thing missing a certain green-haired swordsman who has been oddly missing for the past two days. Luffy and Usopp pay no mind to this as they continue to mess around on the ship but Nami had grown worried of the swordsman, he had disappeared shortly after their conversation and she was having doubts about herself again. Finally having enough of their antics she quiets Luffy and Usopp both with a single punch before storming off in search of the swordsman. Grumbling to herself about joining such a bizarre pirate crew he walks around town asking them if they have seen the swordsman, as expected they haven't . Sighing to herself he decides that asking around the town will be no help and goes out to search for the swordsman on the island itself, this was a fairly small island how hard could it be. Not very hard to say the least considering not only had she found the swordsman but she had found the path of destruction he had carved into the island. Walking over to his exhausted body which smelled of alcohol she pokes him to hope stir him awake, but he doesn't awaken. She decks him over the head which does in fact awaken him. Angrily grumbling awake he looks at Nami,

"What?"

"We've been waiting for you! For 5 hours, Kaya got us the ship and you couldn't even be there when she unveiled it!"

Zoro sighs to himself how long has he been asleep? Lasting he remembered was him trying to accesses his Ashura form before blacking out. He looks around him to see the carnage that surrounded him, grimacing to himself he shakily stands up and dust himself off. He walks towards the direction in which he assumes the boat would be, while walking he unknowingly mutters something which peaks Nami's interest.

"Need to become stronger. I will never let that happen ever again."

**That's a wrap looking the combat scene I know I made it so that Zoro would be stronger and maybe knocking out Kuro in a single shot was a bit too far. But I believe with his knowledge and combat abilities this may not be as far-fetched as it seems, though I am still kind of disappointed with the combat portion of this chapter. I feel like it could have been better, but I will leave it to you all to tell me if it was good or bad. I hope you all enjoyed the little interaction between Nami and Zoro, it was a little side story of sorts that I had unknowingly created and I hate to leave things without a conclusion of sorts. Which for this side story has yet to come, though I'm just gonna say outright I'm not shipping them together. I'm just trying to create a more optimal relationship between the two as I dislike the relationship between the two in the anime. Though as always I hope you enjoyed the story.**


	7. Battle for the Strongest

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

They were closing in on the Baratie and Zoro was in no hurry to meet that insufferable cook, yes they were comrades and he did care for him but Sanji was just so damn annoying sometimes. For now he should just enjoy the time he had to himself, too bad that wasn't going to happen. Johnny and Yosaku had arrived and they were following Zoro around like dogs, he did care about them like brothers but this is getting damned annoying. He hears giggling and sees Nami watching him with amusement, he growls at her.

"What!"

She laughs harder before waving him off,

"Nothing, nothing."

Zoro sighs at this aggravating situation before remember what would happen at the Baratie, Mihawk's arrival and Nami's "betrayal".

"Neh Nami I need to ask you something!"

She looks at him quizzically,

"What is it?"

"Privately I might say."

This comment wasn't more so directed at her, it was directed to Johnny and Yosaku who were trailing him. Nami giggles a bit at this, Johnny and Yosaku take the hint and leave Zoro alone if only for a bit. Zoro let's out a breath of relief before turning his attention back to Nami,

"So how are you going to deal with this?"

"Deal with what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. That damned fishman."

With that line Nami's joyous expression becomes somber,

"I-I-I'm not sure"

Zoro sighs and sits down across from her,

"The only way I see is either you take the gold and run to him to try release your village soon. Or you can try explain it to the rest of the crew and hope they would help you."

Nami lays back on the floor trying to think of what to do, she shyly asks him.

"No matter what I do, you'll always back me up right?"

"If it doesn't endanger the crew yes."

Nami closes her eyes knowing that what she would ask her them would endanger everyone, saddened to know that even Zoro might not back her up tries to reply but is interrupted by Zoro.

"Just try ask Luffy for help, I'm sure he would help you. He's just that type of guy and since you've joined our crew, if you're in danger we'll be there to help you.

Nami smiles at this,

"Thank you."

Zoro grins back before closing his eyes for a nap,

"No problem."

~At the Baratie~

10 minutes, 10 god damn minutes and he already wants to punch Sanji's lights out. In those few weeks without Sanji he forgot just how annoying his tendency to flirt with every girl was. This was damn insane, like seriously how did anyone manage to deal with his flirting for so long, this was driving him crazy. He quietly mutters,

"Happy thoughts, happy thoughts."

Nami notices this and grins mischievously at him, Zoro didn't give her a moment to speak.

"You call him over here and I will kill you right here and now."

She innocently says,

"What me? Why would I do that?"

Zoro groans in annoyance this was going to be a very long and annoying time. Not like it hasn't already been a long time, but it seems like luck was on his side as the whole restaurant quiets down at the arrival of a pirate and not just any pirate Gin the second-hand man of the Krieg Pirates. Krieg was arriving soon and Zoro can only grimly remember that means Mihawk will arrive soon too, this time he was determined to at least land a scratch on him. It sounds easy but with Mihawk as your opponent that was almost impossible, but hey you gotta start small before you hit big. He sighs to himself before excuses himself from the restaurant,

"If anythings happens wake me up from the ship."

Nami simply nods at him, he arrives at the Merry and hops aboard. Sitting by the mast he assumes a meditative state hoping to calm himself for his impending fight.

_"Do you think it is wise to fight that man? You know you can not defeat him at your current state."_

"I know but this will be a test of my abilities and resolve. Simply because I can back does not mean I am the same man, if I do not have the same determination for my goal as I did the last time I faced him than I must find my resolve in my goal again."

Ashura stays silent for the rest of the time at the Baratie, Zoro doesn't know why nor does he care. This was what he needed some time alone to prepare, and his patience has paid of. The Krieg Pirates have finally arrived, Nami runs to find Zoro and sees him sitting by the mast again meditating. She shakes him,

"The Krieg Pirates just turned up at the Baratie!"

Grinning to himself,

"Finally."

Zoro walks over to join Luffy and the Baratie cooks who were standing ready to fight Krieg and his men. He frowns before readying himself for one for the most dangerous fights of his life, he was coming he could just feel his presence under the fog that had just emerged. Krieg shrieks in fear and anger,

"Have you come to finish the job you damned monster!"

Mihawk gives a simple answer,

"You disturbed my nap and now that I'm awake I'm bored, so hunting you will do for now."

Zoro pushes past everyone his bandanna already covering his head, his swords hanging loosely in his arms and mouth but still ready to strike anyone that comes near.

"Dracule Mihawk! I challenge you to a duel for the title of The Strongest Swordsman!"

Mihawk looks at Zoro in disdain,

"Hmph foolish."

Mihawk hops onto the platform that Zoro was on and just like he remembered Mihawk pulls out the tiny knife that he had hidden in the cross instead of his giant black blade. Zoro simply grunts in annoyance before going taut,

"Oni Giri!"

As he expected the strike had been stopped but to his glee this time around he was able to push Mihawk back if just ever so slightly, jumping back he charges forward again unveiling a barrage of ferocious attacks upon Mihawk all which he deflected or blacked with ease. Seeing that his none of his attacks were connecting he hopes back and focuses on his Haki, sadly his goal was not completely reached as only parts of his blade were coated in Haki. Sighing he knew he had to make due with what he had, charging in once again each and every strike precisely where he wants them to be but never connecting his frustration grows.

"Fascinating, you understand and have slight control over your Haki. Quite rare for someone who is from the East Blue much less someone who has yet to enter the Grand Line."

Zoro simply grunts at him, strike after strike his onslaught of attacks are all blocked. Knowing he would go nowhere with simple strikes he jumps back focusing on coating his blades in as much Haki as he can muster he goes into a stance and charges forward,

"Tora Gari!"

Pain encompasses his body, Mihawk's blade plants itself less than an inch from his heart.

"Are you just going to let me pierce your heart? Why aren't you withdrawing?"

Zoro struggling to get his words out,

"I don't know... I don't know why but if I withdrew even a single step. I feel like those various important things such as pledges and promises in the past will be shattered, and I won't be able to come back to where I am now.

"Yes, that's what defeat is about."

Chuckling to himself before coughing out more blood and resuming his speech,

"Then all the more reason I can't withdraw..."

"Even if you'll die?"

"I'd rather die."

Mihawk obviously impressed with Zoro retracts his blade and steps back,

"Kid, state your name."

"Roronoa Zoro, the next Demon Wind."

"I'll remember it. I haven't seen anyone like you in a while, strong one. Thus as a swordsman's courtesy, I'll sink you using the world's strongest black sword."

"I appreciate it."

"Santoryu Ogi: Sanzen Sekai!"

"Fall!"

The two attacks clash, with the amount of Haki imbued into his swords the only sword that remained was Wado Ichimoji. He stands himself up having enough power to send one last attack,

_"Mortal used the move I had taught you!"_

Too tired to argue Zoro complies, Mihawk turns around to see Zoro cut up to hell. Readying one last strike, he meets Zoro head on for the last time.

"Ittoryu: Ashura Hakai!"

The strike as powerful as it was only manage to create a shallow cut upon Mihawk's forearm and Mihawk's strike, well that had created a deep cut that stretched along the length of his torso from the left shoulder to his right hip.

"Why did you not stay down young swordsman?"

Zoro smiles at him,

"Scars on the back are a swordsman shame."

Mihawk finally smiles back,

"Well said."

Zoro falls back into the water and Mihawk hops back onto his boat. Johnny and Yosaku drag Zoro back onto the Merry where Nami and Usopp start to treat his wounds. Mihawk studies the cut on his arm, he had found a fascinating swordsman in the East Blue.

"It is far too early for you to die! My name is Dracule Mihawk! Find your true self, true world, become stronger! No matter how long it takes, I will await you in my strongest form! Surpass this sword! SURPASS ME! Roronoa Zoro the next Demon Wind!"

Hearing those words again was like having cold water splashed onto his face, Zoro covers his eyes with his hand and grins.

"Luffy, can you hear me?"

Luffy responds,

"Yeah!"

"Sorry for worrying you. If I don't become the world's greatest swordsman. It will only embarrass you"

He chokes on his blood before resuming,

"I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAIN! Until I defeat him and become the greatest swordsman, I'll never be defeated anymore! Any problem with that, Pirate King!

Mihawk grins at Zoro before turning away to start his boat up, while Luffy grins at him,

"Shishishi nope!"

With that Zoro finally falls unconscious, Mihawk leaves the Baratie. With his leave the fight between Luffy, Sanji and the Baratie cooks against the Krieg Pirates commences. Johnny, Yosaku and Nami quietly move the ship to the other side of the Baratie to treat his wounds whilst Luffy call for Usopp to help support him in the battle. Nami can hear the sounds of the battle occurring the other side of the Baratie, she could only think of how powerful Mihawk was. She had seen Zoro tear through every opponent he had faced so far in their adventure with ease but to see him so easily defeated by Mihawk was unsettling. She sits back sighing she has done everything she can to try stop the bleeding now all they could do was wait and hope he survived. She walks out of the room and hops onto the Baratie sneaking to the other side to watch the battle commence between The Krieg Pirates and The Baratie cooks. Watching them she could only hope that they would be strong enough to defeat Arlong when it cam down to it or she would be in a very tight situation.

**That's a wrap as you can see for the fight between Mihawk and Zoro I had only changed a few things. I had decided not to change much for the interaction between them since I always loved this moment and saw it as a character defining moment in Zoro's character development. Another note to add in is the perspective of the story, yes this is obviously a Zoro-centric fanfic but I will add in the perspective of the rest of the Strawhats throughout the story. I'm mostly focused on Zoro and Nami right now due to the fact that I never really liked Usopp too much as a character and my inability to change Luffy as a character since I prefer if he had almost no change to him at all. Sanji will have a bit of change not too much but for the rest of the Strawhats well I'm not too sure yet, the few Strawhats I know who will have their perspective shown often will be Zoro, Nami, Robin and Brook. For the rest of the Strawhats I'm unsure of how to deal with them. But anyways if you enjoyed this thanks for reading.**


	8. Arising Fears

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Zoro could only lay there groaning in pain, it had been hours after the fight between the Krieg Pirates and the Baratie cooks had ended. They had acquired a cook which was good the bad part, well he was a complete pervert. He had dealt with this once before but this time it felt like Mihawk had decided to cut him even deeper simply because he had managed to put a cut on the World's Strongest Swordsman's body, he chuckles to himself before he yelps in pain when Nami tightens the bandages on his body.

"You should be getting some sleep right now not chuckling to yourself about your next stupid idea."

Grunting at her before complying, he lays down on the couch to try get some rest.

"That was incredibly stupid."

Zoro opens a single eye to look at Nami,

"How so?"

"You should have known that you wouldn't have been able to beat."

Closing his eye he responds,

"I did."

"Then why did you fight him?"

He grins at her,

"How can I become the World's Strongest Swordsman if I cower before those more powerful than me? Simple I can't, I failed this time but I will grow stronger and stronger with each day. Dangerous battles like that will push my body to it's limit and force me to either surpass my mortal limits or die, I either become strong enough to achieve it or die never reaching my goal. It's as simple as that."

Nami sits down and sighs,

"Than what about the crew?"

For once in this conversation Zoro's grin drops,

"What would have happened if you didn't survive how would the crew traverse the Grand Line without you?"

A growing somber expression on his face was all that Nami needed to see to know that he was digesting her words.

"I won't die."

Unconvinced Nami stands up and walks towards the door,

"For this crew to survive I hope you don't."

Leaving Zoro alone with his thoughts, in his own selfish desire he had let his need for to test his strength and complete his dream overcome the reason why he came back to not only get stronger but to also protect his crew. He wouldn't be able to do that if he was dead now could he, groaning at the he curses Nami for making him think about this. But sighs knowing that she was right he should really just sleep instead of thinking,

_"That is a wise decision mortal."_

"Piss off Ashura."

~With the Marines~

Garp was overseeing the training of Coby and Helmeppo or better yet he simply threw them into a jungle and told them to survive. He returned to the marine headquarters to catch up with Sengoku when he stumbles upon a few Marines interrogating a couple of pirates,

"He defeated The Nyaban Brothers both individually with a single strike!"

Sounded fascinating and to make things even more interesting Dracule Mihawk had appeared beside him,

"Sound like the young ones are stirring up a storm now aren't they Garp?

"Bwahahahaha how right you are, these kids nowadays don't know the dangers of the sea. Simply going out to steal treasure, fools they are."

Mihawk chuckles,

"Fool yes, but they are quite interesting."

Garp raises his eyebrow in interest,

"What do you mean?"

"I met a young swordsman not too long ago, he wished to take my title as the strongest swordsman."

Garp laughs

"Bwahahahaha, I can only guess you cut him down."

"I did but not before he did something I did not expect his final strike had actually touched me."

Garp looks over at Mihawk cautiously,

"He cut you? What's his name?"

Mihawk grins,

"His name was Roronoa Zoro the next Demon Wind."

Garp was about to ask him what a Demon Wind was but was interrupted by the pirates that were being interrogated,

"That's him, he had defeated The Nyaban Brothers and Captain Kuro all in a single strike!"

They cowered in fear of the name Garp could only laugh,

"These young ones really are stirring about a storm."

Mihawk walks away,

"You should also know your grandson, Monkey D. Luffy, was his captain."

With that statement Garp's laughter and smile disappear being replaced by an enraged expression,

"That idiot I wanted him to be a Marine, why did he have to go and become a pirate! CURSE YOU RED-HAIR!"

Mihawk chuckles before wondering what a Demon Wind was too, it may be a simple title but from the way he said it that may not be. Sighing he walks into the base knowing that whatever it was wouldn't matter, simply because with or without it Zoro and his crew will bring about a storm almost as large as Gol D. Roger once did.

~Conomi Island~

They had finally arrived at Cocoyashi Island, though he had been asleep for it they had apparently agreed to helping Nami with her Arlong situation. The only ones that seemed opposed were Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku. Understandable since Luffy loved helping people, Zoro had already agreed to help and Sanji is a slave to any woman that pays even a second of attention to him. Sighing he tried to sit up only to be stopped by Nami,

"After an injury like that you need a lot of rest so you better not get up."

He glares at her,

"I'm fine, sitting around won't do me any good and a little exercise won't kill me."

When he tries to get up again he is instantly put down with a strike to the head courtesy of Nami, he glares at her again.

"What was that for you damned witch! I'm already injured you assaulting me won't help my condition!"

She huffs in annoyance but before she can say anything is interrupted by Sanji,

"How dare you talk to a lady like that! Ohh Nami-swan don't pay this moss head any mind, it doesn't matter if he dies or not so long as we are together."

Zoro simply groans and lays down knowing that Sanji would be annoying as hell to deal with, Nami sees this and grins knowing just how to push Zoro's buttons.

"Sanji-kun please go make some food for Zoro please."

"Anything for you Nami-swan!"

He instantly runs off to prepare food, Zoro sighs in relief and looks at Nami quizzically, she shrugs hers shoulders before speaking again.

"I can see how much he annoys you."

"I understand that but I would have expected you to keep him here just to annoy me."

She innocently asks,

"Do you want me to?"

Zoro pales considerably,

"Hell no!"

She laughs at his reaction before quieting down,

"It just seems on this whole ship, you're the most reasonable person besides me. I wouldn't want to ruin any friendship we could have."

Zoro looks at her before sighing,

"Fine, fine I'll stay here for the day. But tomorrow I'm out, I can't stand not moving for any extended period of time."

She smiles at him,

"You actually listened, and that already more than I had expected you to do."

He grumbles at her before turning and going to sleep, once he's asleep Nami's smile drops. She had kept up the facade of a happy person for the crew but she couldn't be happy, not with the memories of this place resurfacing. Especially with the death of Bellemere and the years she spent slaving away under Arlong, she snuck away while the crew wasn't paying attention and marched to Arlong Park. She reached the doors taking a deep breath before entering to see the despicable fishman sitting on a chair and grinning,

"Ahh Nami I see you have returned. So how close are you to getting that money now?"

He and the rest of the fishmen laugh, she steels her wits so not to reply in anger at him.

"I've got your 100 Million Berries."

That simple statement quiets them down instantly, Arlong's grin turns into a more cautiously neutral smile.

"Well isn't that great well once you bring it here we'll release your village."

Nami hearing what she wants sighs in relief,

"Then I'll go get it now then."

She turns to run back to her village,

"Tch, someone call Nezumi and tell him that the plans has started earlier than expected."

A random fishman responds, Arlong slouches into his chair grinning to himself.

"Didn't expect her to get the money this fast but we can't really look at this like a bad thing, this means we get our money earlier than expected."

The fishmen all laugh together and celebrate among themselves, she was going to hate them even more than she already did but who were they to care.

"This is a great day men, Shahahaha!"

~At Cocoyashi Village~

Nami is running back to her childhood home and is greeted by Nojiko,

"First time you've been on this island for so long and you don't even drop by to give a hello."

Nami rubs the back of her head sheepishly before answering,

"There was just a very important matter I had to deal with first."

"Well whatever it is, put it off for now and help me deal with your friends."

"Friends?"

She looks over Nojiko's shoulder to see the rest of the Strawhats sitting around a table conversing. She groans before addressing them,

"Why are you all here! I told you to not leave the ship!"

Luffy was the person that responded to her,

"But Nami it's a new island we can't just sit around we have to explore."

She was so tempted to bang her head on the wall before she notices something,

"Where's Zoro?"

Usopp responds this time,

"He's still on the ship."

She huffs in annoyance but is slightly happy that the enigmatic swordsman had listened to her,

"All of you return to the ship now I can't just have you guys hanging around here."

Luffy groans,

"But Nami-."

She interrupts him,

"Sanji take these two idiots back to the ship"

Sanji gains hearts over his eyes,

"Yes, Nami-swan!"

Finally having that headache done with she sits done for a moment and drinks a glass of water, she sighs and tries to stop the racing in her heart. The reality of her situation had just hit her, she had done it she has the money to free the people of Cocoyashi Village. She was on the verge of crying, her goal of 8 years was about to be complete, but before she can celebrate there are shouts coming from the village. Nojiko and her walk out to see what all the commotion is about, they look over and see it was Marines. She was cautious what were Marines doing here after so many years of not touching this island, the one leading them looked like a rat and she didn't like that.

"I am Captain Nezumi and I have a warrant to search this premise for stolen."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing, Arlong was never going to keep his promise. She growls and tries to keep face and send the Marines away.

"We don't have any stolen goods on this property."

"Chichichi then I guess you wouldn't mind us searching then."

She grows angrier and angrier by the second, she wants to say something but a chill runs down her spine when she hears one of the Marines call out,

"Found it."

The world around her tunes out, the anger she felt couldn't be contained. So she did the only thing that she could do right now, she ran. All the way to Arlong Park barging through the front gate,

"You lied to me, you were never going to keep your promise!"

Arlong just grins at her,

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean! You sent the Marines to confiscate the money I had saved to but back Cocoyashi Village!"

Arlong throws on a confused look,

"I have no idea what you mean. I'm a pirate there's no way the Marines would work with me."

She couldn't believe it, but he was right there was no way that she could prove that they were working together. Arlong walks up to her grinning,

"We're feel very bad that the money you had saved up to release your village was stolen, but we can't do anything to the Marines without them sending someone here to hunt us down. So I'm sorry to say but I guess you're going to have to restart your little collection."

Nami couldn't take it anymore she runs out of Arlong Park, hoping to just escape everything. 8 years down the drain because she was foolish enough to believe that Arlong would actually spare her village, she can't do that she has to return to Cocoyashi Village she can't deal with anymore pain or disappointment today. When she returns she sees the entire village riled up she's confused,

"What's going on?"

Genzo answers,

"We're going to storm Arlong Park!"

Nami is shocked,

"NO! WHY!"

"We know of the deal you had made with Arlong to release the village and of him sending marines to steal your money. We knew everything and we've had enough, we're going to march right up there and demand that he release our village!"

"But he'll kill all of you!"

Genzo grows somber before resuming,

"Then so be it we rather die than not be able to stop such a tyrant from doing something like this to you!"

They march off and Nami wants to stop them but her words are caught in her throat, the emotional toll of this day is too immense she could no longer deal with it. She starts bawling and takes a knife stabbing her tattoo of the Arlong Pirates over and over again, but she's suddenly stopped by someone. She looks us tears in her eyes to see Luffy looking back at her with a neutral look on his face, she gather her voice.

"Luffy, help me."

That's all that it took, Luffy take off his straw hat and places it on Nami's heading walking a few steps before yelling

"DAMN RIGHT!"

She's shocked, looking at him she sees him walking away calling out to the others that were sitting not to far away.

"We're going."

They all respond,

"Right!"

Zoro looks back at her knowing that this moment was the moment in which her trust in them is cemented, now all they had to do make sure that she can believe in them. Grunting to himself now all they had to do was beat Arlong an inch from death, he was getting excited at the prospect.

**That's a wrap this was the most difficult chapter to write so far not because it was hard to write no. It was just that suddenly in the middle of writing it I lost the motivation to do it. May have something to do with my colossal headache I have right now, right now I'm still in the process of trying to fast track the East Blue Saga a bit. Once we reach the Grand line the chapters should become a bit longer than they are now which means that I will update the story less which is kinda sad but I only have that much brain power to work up at once. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thank you.**


	9. He will Arrive Soon

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

The Strawhats had arrived to see the mob of villagers from Cocoyashi Village being stopped by something, upon closer inspection they notice that they were stopped by Johnny and Yosaku who were a bit worse for wear. Once they set their eyes upon the Strawhats they move aside to allow them to reach the gate, Luffy cocks his fist back and smashes it into the gate.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU BASTARDS IS ARLONG!"

Arlong looks over at them in annoyance,

"What is it to you?"

"I'm here to beat him up!"

Arlong laughs,

"I'd like to see you try, through a punch kid I'm Arlong. I'll enjoy kill-"

Arlong is interrupted by a punch from Luffy which sends him flying into the wall to his right, the fishmen and the villagers of Cocoyashi Village are in shock.

"You bastard what did you do to Arlong!"

Luffy embeds his feet into the floor,

"Gomu gomu no Kazaguruma!"

This attack had knocked back most of the fishmen and Usopp.

"AHH Luffy don't hit me too!"

"Shishishi sorry Usopp."

Sanji sweatdrops at this and Zoro groans before rubbing his head they were both thinking the same thing he should have dodged that attack and why the hell do they have this idiot as their captain. Zoro walks forward, wincing a bit while doing it,

"Pull yourself out of the ground already you can't fight like that."

Luffy is silent which is weird for him, Zoro looks at him.

"Luffy what are you doing, pull yourself out already."

Luffy looks at him,

"I'm stuck."

Zoro looks at him in annoyance before muttering under his breath,

"Not again."

He calls out to Sanji and Usopp,

"Cover me I'm gonna try pull him out!"

He doesn't wait for them to respond, he sheaths his blade and runs over to Luffy. Grabbing him by the sides he tugs to no avail,

"Damn your rubbery body."

Luffy just laughs at him before he's silenced by Zoro's blade being dangerously close to his neck, Zoro gives up on pulling Luffy out and unsheathes Wado Ichimoji.

"I can't pull you out so I'm going to try cut you out."

He's about to cut into the concrete before he feels something about to hit him, bringing his blade up to block the strike he looks to see Arlong standing in front of him with a grin filled with annoyance. The wounds from Mihawk must have been getting to him cause he didn't even notice Kuroobi to his left land a strike to his shoulder sending him back. He growls before standing up and dusting himself off a bit,

"Now, now did you really think we would just let you take your friend out without putting up a fight."

He sighs before taking his bandanna off of his arm and puts it over his head,

"I'll take the octopus, Sanji you take the ray fish and Usopp take out the fish with lips."

They simply nod at him before readying themselves or in Usopp's case trying to ready himself while shaking in fear, Arlong calls out to his officers.

"Shahahaha Kill them all!"

Sanji launches himself forward landing a kick onto the forearm of Kuroobi, Chew rushes at Usopp. Usopp responds by running away, stupidly Chew follows Usopp right out of Arlong park. Zoro sighs to himself before setting his sights on Hatchan who had just brought out his six swords, he calls out.

"Johnny, Yosaku let me borrow your swords."

"Hai aniki!"

They toss him their blades which were a far-cry from his usual katanas but they will have to do for now, he rushes Hatchan his three blades now in hand. He grimaces his wounds still weren't healed enough for him to go full out in this battle, he should be careful of what happens now. He looks at Hatchan to see him taunting him, Zoro simply grunts in annoyance before deciding that he shouldn't waste anytime rushing forward not giving Hatchan any time to react,

"Tatsumaki!"

In less than a minute one of the Arlong Pirates officers was defeated, they were all shocked and Arlong well he was mad that a human had not only injured one of his brothers but had defeated him. Arlong grabs Luffy pulling him along with the concrete entrapping his legs and throws him into the water,

"AHH Zoro hel-"

Zoro snarls at Arlong,

"Why do you play such dirty tricks can't you fight like a man!"

Arlong laughs,

"Why should I fight like a man, I'm beyond a man I am a fishman! We are above you wretched cur, we are the superior species! Shahahaha!"

Zoro simply groans in annoyance, but he was worried. Luffy was down and Sanji can't save him in this current situation since he was still dealing with Kuroobi and if he were to enter the water himself Arlong would follow him most likely killing him. Making a quick decision he calls out to Sanji,

"Oy love-cook, go save Luffy I'll deal with them both."

Sanji gives a glance at Zoro before responding,

"We know you're strong but in your state even you won't be able to take them both at once."

"I know that! But we have to save Luffy somehow, now go!"

Sparing Zoro another glance before reluctantly complying, he runs over and dives into the water. Kuroobi seeing this follows him seeing this as an opportunity to defeat Sanji since he had entered the water a fishmans domain. But he is bared from entering the water by Zoro who strikes at Kuroobi's head, Kuroobi blocks the strike but is still sent back a bit. Heaving and exhausted Zoro speaks,

"I'm your opponent now turn your back to me and I'll cut you down faster than you can imagine."

This was suicide and he knew it but he had to hold out or Luffy would die. His vision was already beginning to spawn black dots he wasn't going to last much longer and he knew it, gritting his teeth he ready's himself and charges at Kuroobi unleashing a barrage of strikes most of which Kuroobi avoids or blocks. Kuroobi launches a strike back at Zoro, Zoro is too exhausted to block it properly leading to the punch sending him flying right in front of the mob of villagers. He sees a familiar face it was Nami he didn't know when she had arrived but it must have been long enough to see him being beaten down. She looks distraught he chuckles to himself he just promised to never lose again to Luffy a day or so ago and now here he was almost defeated.

_"You are still far too weak and with this situation you might truly die."_

"Now I can't have that happening now can I."

_"No you can't ,but you can do little to stop them in your current state."_

Zoro frowns at this,

"Got anything that can help me?"

Ashura doesn't respond instantly, after a few moments he finally does.

_"I know of one way to help you but what that could lead to, well you may not want to take it."_

"What can you do and what might it lead to?"

_"I can imbued a bit of demonic energy into you early, but doing this will only lead to The Demon of the Core awakening sooner than you wish for him to."_

Zoro contemplates this before giving off an insane grin,

"Well die now or die later I know my choice."

He couldn't see it but he could feel Ashura grin back at him,

_"Well said mortal."_

That was all the warning he got before his body was encompassed by pain, he stands up confused of how he still had the energy to do that. He looks at his arms to see that they were slowing becoming pitch black and exuding flames starting from his fingertips, he grins to himself before looking at Arlong and Kuroobi.

"Round two anyone."

Kuroobi growls at this, he wanted this man to stay down and his frustrations has peaked. He charges forward at Zoro despite Arlong yelling at him not to, Zoro seeing this feels his blood lust reach newer heights.

"Ittoryu lai: Shishi Sonson!"

A quick and decisive strike that struck down Kuroobi, Zoro smiles at his handy work before taunting the enraged Arlong.

"I thought you said you fishmen were the superior race, for a superior race they really seem to be easy to cut down."

Arlong having enough finally charges at Zoro, Zoro was no fool taking Hatchan out was easy but it had reopened his wounds, taking Kuroobi was slightly more difficult but still plausible. But taking Arlong after the demonic energy that Ashura had imbued in him disappeared that was damn near impossible all he could do now is play defensive and hope Arlong doesn't land a hit that would kill him. Much more difficult than he made it sound Arlong was relentless fueled by his anger each strike was powerful and precisely there to kill him he won't last much longer he can already feel himself fading unconscious. He loses focus for a second and Arlong strikes a punch straight to his chest, he couldn't take it he coughs up blood and falls to his knees. Arlong grabs his neck and brings Zoro up to eye level,

"You will pay for all of my brothers you had cut down toady!"

Arlong sees Hatchan stand up and smiles,

"Hatchan go and kill those damn humans that are trying to save that rubbery bastard!"

Hatchan complies and jumps into the water chasing after Sanji who was trying to get Luffy free. Arlong finally notices that Zoro was covered in bandages, curious he rips the bandages off his body to look in horror. He had managed to fight with these injuries he shouldn't even be standing at this point much less alive, he looks up to see Zoro glaring at him. This was not a look on a dead man this looked like he was staring right at a demon and considering what the person in front of him just did he might as well be. He couldn't let someone this dangerous live any longer he pulls his arm back to land the finishing blow to Zoro.

"Haha."

"Hmm?"

"If you lied down quietly those wounds wouldn't have reopened."

"How true, laughing at your sad state now?"

"I'm not talking about myself, I'm talking about that octopus!"

Arlong looks at him in horror, turning his gaze to the water he sees the water turning blood red and the body of Hatchan following not so shortly after. He looks back angrily as Zoro who was grinning at him, ready to kill him again Arlong cocks his arm back. Only to be distracted by a yell coming from Luffy who was finally free,

"That rubbery boy..."

Zoro chokes a bit,

"Took you long enough."

Zoro asks Ashura for even a tiny bit of energy so he can escape himself instead of being flung away by Luffy this time, Ashura comply's and Zoro gains the strength to crack Arlong's wrist weakening his hold. He escapes and jumps back stretching his arm out for Luffy to grab,

"Luffy get over here now!"

Luffy grins while doing so, he grabs Zoro's arm and the moment he got close enough Zoro flung Luffy straight at Arlong. Seeing his job complete Zoro slowly stumbles back to the mob of villagers before collapsing. He was going to need a lot of sleep after this before he closes his eyes he sees Nami put his head on her lap crying tears of happiness. He chuckles a bit before smiling at her.

_"Your body will be the perfect vessel for me once I awaken mortal, enjoy the short time you have left before you're trapped within your own subconscious."_

Zoro knew that this demonic voice was not Ashura's, he was right the with the help he got the demon was waking up sooner. Zoro would have to get stronger even faster now after this and with that thought he falls unconscious.

**That's a wrap this chapter went really well in my opinion, I finished the Arlong arc with this chapter. The next chapter I'm not sure if I should have them heading straight to Loguetown or if I should have a rest chapter where they will be celebrating the defeat of Arlong and start their journey to Loguetown. I'm still kind of caught between what to do and I hope I can decide soon and get started with the next chapter. I would like to mention that to whoever had read this fanfic a day before I edited it I'm sorry that I had spelled Usopp's name wrong for like 8 chapters before I noticed. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	10. The Bizarre Mountain

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

He was pissed, well maybe not pissed but really annoyed. They had left Cocoyashi Village a few days ago and were currently about to enter Loguetown, but his injuries from both Mihawk and the fishmen were still healing. Nami had stopped him from training in anyway, that was one of the most annoying parts of this. Not the pain or boredom, it was the fact that she wouldn't allow him to train. He should have been strong enough to take all the fishmen out himself but he hadn't been able to beat Chew simply because Ussop had led him away and Arlong. He won't let himself be comforted by the fact that he was still recovering from his injuries courtesy of Mihawk, he wouldn't give any excuse besides the fact that he was too weak and that frustrated him to no end. He had to start training soon or he would lose his mind, meditating could only do so much to quell his angers and frustration. He's shaken from his thoughts when he hears Usopp call out for them saying that they had landed, he stretches and heads out to join the rest of the crew. Luffy and Usopp are bubbling with excitement, Sanji isn't paying attention to the island deciding to swoon over Nami would be a better idea and Nami well she was keeping an eye out for three different things, the island, the weather and him. Groaning to himself when he remembered the debt that he had owed her after borrowing a hundred-thousand berries he contemplates whether or not he should ask her again. As great as their relationship is right now he doubts that she would just borrow him money without trying to add interest to it. Sighing he knew that no matter what he needed new swords,

"Oy Nami."

She looks at him,

"Can I borrow a hundred-thousand berries?"

She pauses for a second before answering,

"Why would you need that much money for?

Zoro answers,

"I am the master of Santoryu and I can't do that with only one sword."

She puts her hand on her chin opting for a look that makes it seem like she was thinking,

"Sure but you're going to have to pay interest for that."

She sticks her tongue out and winks at him when she says that, Zoro sweatdrops before shakily saying sure. She hands him the money and grins at him mischievously, Zoro sighs knowing that she would hold this debt over him for a very long time to come. He jumps off the ship heading towards the town knowing exactly where to go, he arrives at the store and sees Ipponmatsu lazily looking over a magazine.

"Yo I have 100,000 Berries get me any two swords you can."

Ipponmatsu scoffs at him and is about to tell him to piss off, but he notices Wado Ichimoji at Zoro's waist. He looks like he was going to have a heart attack Zoro finds it really amusing.

"H-h-hey t-t-that -s-sword on y-your waist! L-l-let me look a-at it!"

Zoro smiles knowing what was about to happen, he willingly hands his sword over to him. Having determined that this sword was authentic he starts bargaining for it.

"I'll give you 200,000 berries! No 250,000! What you want 300,000!"

It was at that point Zoro tunes him out, he waits for him to finish but that doesn't happen until Tashigi enters the store. She notices the sword in Ipponmatsu's hand and she gasp,

"Is that Wado Ichimoji?"

She takes the blade from his hands and looks it over,

"It is!"

She takes out her little book to find Wado Ichimoji,

"This blade is worth 10 Million berries."

Finally having enough Zoro reaches over and takes his blade back,

"I know what sword this is and I know how much it would be worth, seriously you walk into a store see a nice blade and instantly make a grab for it"

Tashigi looks away embarrassed while Ipponmatsu huffs in annoyance,

"The 50,000 berries swords are in those barrels take anyone of them and get out."

Zoro grins and walks over to the barrel, rummaging around a bit he finds the sword he wants Sandai Kitetsu. He tunes out Tashigi's talking and studies the blade, he already knew it was cursed but would it recognize it as it's master or would he have to do that again. He unsheathes it and feels the blade growl at him, he returns to hear Ipponmatsu yelling,

"I can't sell you that sword!"

"Why?"

Zoro answers,

"It's cursed."

They look at him both shocked,

"H-how did you know?"

Zoro grins at him,

"I can feel it's blood lust."

Ipponmatsu pales and recounts the tales of the Kitetsu swords, while Zoro's grin grows wider.

"Let's see which is stronger this sword's curse or my luck."

He throws Sandai Kitetsu up into the air ignoring Tashigi and Ipponmatsu's yelling. He sticks his left arm out closing his eyes and listening to the blade cutting through the air.

!Thunk!

He opens his eyes to see the blade embedded into the wooden floor, he grins.

"Guess my luck is stronger."

Ipponmatsu and Tashigi both fall over in shock of what just happened, Ipponmatsu recovers faster,

"W-wait here!"

He runs into the storage area for a few moments returning with another sword this one Zoro recognizes as Yubashiri.

"T-this is Yubashiri, my family's prized heirloom! Take it."

Zoro grins at him,

"Thanks old man."

He takes his two nearly acquired blades and walks out of the store happy, leaving Tashigi still sitting on the floor shocked.

"Man it feels good to be carrying three swords again."

He heads towards the execution platform where he knows Buggy will appear, the problem well the last time Buggy had trapped Luffy here because he had defeated him. But this time around Buggy didn't even see Luffy at all the only one he saw was him, since he had taken up the task of defeating them all by himself. Sighing he found a nice secluded spot near the execution platform and took a nap.

~Roughly 2 hours later~

Zoro wakes up and stretches, he looks in to the plaza to see many people wearing cloaks. Grinning to himself he knew that they were the Buggy Pirates, he decides to wait out a bit before defeating all of them. He looks up to the execution platform to see Luffy standing up there excited that he was in the same spot the Pirate King Gol D. Roger was when he was executed. Smiling at him Zoro sneaks around to the back of the execution tower and calls out for Luffy,

"Oy Luffy!"

Luffy hearing his name being called looks around for who called him, he looks down the back of the platform and sees Zoro,

"Zoro!"

"Luffy we should go soon I see a couple of suspicious people in the plaza and with a Marine base so close by we shouldn't cause too much trouble."

Luffy grins before jumping down from the tower, together Zoro and and Luffy start to head back to the ship avoiding as many of the cloaked figures as they could. When they arrive they find Sanji already on the ship carrying a giant fish,

"Hey Ero-cook, where did you get the fish?"

Sanji glares at him and ignores him, scoffing at him Zoro asks another question.

"Hey dartboard brow, where's Nami Usopp?"

Still glaring at him Sanji answers,

"They were looking for you guys, Nami-swan mentioned something about a storm before running off to find you and Luffy."

Zoro says ok before telling Luffy to wake him up if anything happens, he walks over to his spot near the bow of the ship. Sitting down he cracks his neck before closing his eyes, happy that he had finally gotten most of his swords back. Though he remembered that he would most likely lose Yubashiri in Enies Lobby he sighs, but he also remembers that he would obtain Shusui from Ryuma on Thriller Bark. They were going to enter the Grand Line soon, their adventure was going to start soon. Smiling to himself he finally lets himself

~A While Later~

Zoro is awakened by a strike to his head, he growls and looks up to see Nami completely drenched and yelling at him.

"What was that for?"

"There's a storm and we need all the help we need everyone helping so that we can get out of it!"

Hearing this Zoro stretches and gets into action, they're about to enter the Grand Line he had to be vigilant in case anything happens. Though he doesn't remember how they had gotten to Reverse Mountain through the calm belt, he yawns telling himself that they would figure that out later. He watches as Nami talks about the mountain and the calm belt, looks up at the sails.

"Too late, seems like we've already entered the Calm Belt."

They look at him before noticing that he was right the ship wasn't moving and there was no wind Usopp starts panicking, Sanji just follows Nami around like a dog, while Nami tries to figure out a way for the ship to get to the mountain, Luffy was just laughing at Usopp's panicked state and him well since no one has any idea of what to do he could try something. Pushing himself to stand up groaning while doing so, he walks over to the back of the boat grabbing some rope with him while walking there. Nami watches him curiously, Zoro takes the rope and tries to tie himself to the back of the boat. Nami sees him struggle to tie himself to the boat and sighs walking up to him to help.

"Why are you tying yourself to the boat?"

Zoro thanks her before answering,

"Just watch and see, also tell the rest of the crew to hold on."

She comply's yelling at the rest of the rest of the crew to grab onto something, Zoro unsheathes Wado Ichimoji and readies himself.

"Sanbyakurokuju Poundo Ho!"

With this strike it blasts the ship right out of the water, while soaring through the air Zoro thinks.

"Maybe should have checked which direction Reverse Mountain was in."

Lucky enough they had landed not too far away from Reverse Mountain, Zoro grins to himself it worked itself out. He's about to untie himself when he feels something hard slam right into his head, he looks up to see a very angry Nami.

"Jesus what was this one for?"

"Don't just do stupid stuff like that without telling us!"

He growls at her,

"I gave you guys a warning that should be all you guys need!"

She huffs before walking away, Zoro grumbles and scratches his head.

"Why is she always so violent."

Untying himself and seeing that they wouldn't reach Reverse Mountain for at least an hour or two he decides to take a nap. But before he can he overhears Nami talking about a few things,

"While I was in the town I saw wanted posters."

Luffy excitingly ask,

"Of who? And how much!"

"Jeez Luffy calm down, there was wanted posters for you and Zoro."

Luffy starts celebrating already and Zoro grins proud that he got a bounty even earlier than he did last time.

"How much!"

Nami punches Luffy over the head,

"Calm down you idiot, I was getting there."

She breaths out and relaxes herself before resuming,

"Luffy you have a 35 Million Berrie bounty and Zoro has a 25 Million Berrie bounty."

Luffy start celebrating again, Sanji finally decides to speak up.

"Nami-swan, was there no wanted poster for me?"

"Sorry Sanji-kun I didn't see any for you."

Zoro laughs at his dejected look,

"You got to do something big to make them notice you."

Sanji turns towards Zoro annoyed,

"And what did you do huh Marimo."

Zoro grins at him,

"Besides defeating two officers of the Fishman Pirate, well I landed a cut on the Strongest Swordsman in the world."

Sanji looks like he wants to argue but he knew Zoro was right, he opted to grumble to himself. Zoro laughs again before looking at Nami,

"Wake me up if something happens, and you know a little less violent and painful this time."

She grins at him mischievously,

"No promises"

He grumbles before falling asleep. Within his subconscious he sees Ashura again,

"What are you doing here?"

_"You know this is no time to be sleeping right?"_

"What do you mean?"

_"Your time is short The Demon of the Core is awakening more and more each day."_

Zoro sighs and leans back,

"Yea I know."

_"You should spend all the time you can with your friends before you disappear."_

Zoro scoffs at him,

"Who said I was going to let him take over my body."

_"I know you won't but you are not powerful enough to stop him nor do you possess a drive like Φλαμε, you can do little to stop this."_

Zoro looks at him,

"I am Roronoa Zoro, the man who will become the Strongest Swordsman in the world. I can't let some little demon overpower me before I achieve what I need to!"

_"You keep telling yourself that, the demon is more powerful than you could ever imagine. There is little you can do to stop him mortal."_

"Well I have an idea of what to do."

_"And what would that be?"_

Now wheres the fun in just telling you now?"

Ashura chuckles at him,

_"I hope whatever you have planned can actually help you."_

He can feel Ashura fading from his mind,

"Me too."

Zoro is awakened by Nami this time not so violently thank god. They had arrived at the base of the mountain, he sees just how amazing the mountain is again. A mountain that possesses a stream that moves up instead of down, was a quite an amazing sight. Nami yelled for all of them to get ready to ride the stream up, the only problem well the ship wasn't exactly straight when they entered the stream meaning they were heading straight into one of the walls to the sides of the stream. This time Nami and Usopp were both panicking and Sanji was trying to reassure Nami that he would always protect her no matter what. The only ones that did something were Luffy and him, Luffy went to the right side that was about to impact with the wall,

"Gomu Gomu no Fusen!"

The ship bounced off of Luffy's body instead of crashing into the wall, this time the ship was sent to the left. Grinning to himself and seeing how much power he would need to correct the direction of the ship he readies himself,

"Sanjuroku Poundo Ho!"

The ship is on a semi-straight path straight up the mountain, Luffy and Zoro seeing their jobs done stand and admire the mountain even more. Nami and Usopp watch them,

"God both of you are monsters."

Zoro laughs at this,

"Just enjoy the ride and worry about everything else later!"

They reach the peak of the mountain soaring into the air, they are greeted by the sight of a rising sun before they start falling back down. Zoro simply grins it was great going through this adventure again and this time there would be a happy ending for all of them, he will see to this even if it cost him his own life they would live

**That's a wrap this concludes the East Blue Saga, I'm really looking forward to writing the Grand Line arcs. The only problem is that I want to show that Zoro is stronger than the rest of the Strawhats by a large margin but I also don't want to take away some of Luffy's opponents in the story. I would create OC's for this but I don't think I would do too great of a job at this so I probably won't do that or get a friends to help me create one. All I can say is that I most likely will have to create an OC eventually it's I'm just saying there probably won't be one anytime soon. On that note I just want to mention that I'm still brainstorming an original arc, I didn't want to put one in the East Blue Saga. I felt like it would have been better if it was in part of the Grand Line. The only idea I have so far is for two separate stories, one where Zoro has to deal with The Demon of the Core and the second one involves him and the crew fighting a sorcerer of sorts that has been summoning demons into the One Piece world. To add to that after this chapter I will most likely be posting new chapters a bit slower, since I feel like my chapter are a bit short so I'm going to work on making them longer. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	11. Baroque Works

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

They had reached the bottom of Reverse Mountain to be greeted by a whale, after a bit of a misunderstanding they manage to exit the whale with Crocus' help. The Strawhats listen to the story of Laboon, Zoro tries to pay attention but he's already heard this story so they was no need to listen to it again. Though this time he knew something that would very much please the whale, after Luffy had decided to fight the whale and everyone was preparing to set sail again. Zoro sneaks away to talk to Laboon,

"Hey Laboon!"

The whale focuses on him, Zoro smiles at him,

"One of those pirates wouldn't happen to be name Brook now would he?"

Laboon clicks at him, Zoro takes that as a yes.

"I know where he is and when we finally return I'll reunite the two of you."

Laboon seems overjoyed at what Zoro says, he wails in joy. Zoro simply laughs, what Zoro doesn't know was that Nami was watching him. This just cements her thoughts of Zoro hiding some really deep secret, there was no way for him to know of Cocoyasi Village and Arlong but he did. He was hiding something and she knew it and this time she was determined to find out what it is. Zoro returns to the ship and they set sail for Whiskey Peak, they have only been here for an hour or so but he found Mr.9 insufferable. But he was internally contemplating whether or not he wanted to reveal his knowledge of Vivi or 's mission, sighing to himself this was going to be frustrating he'll just train for now and decide later. Finding a spot at the back of the ship he gets into a meditative state to try access some of the powers that Ashura has shown him, the one he was focusing on this time would be the Demon Flame or as others call it the Soul-Devouring Flame. Was it a dangerous technique yes, was he still going to try use it yes.

_"Not just anyone can use the Soul-Devouring Flame Roronoa."_

"When did you ever start calling me by an actual name instead of mortal?"

Ashura grumbles,

_"I do what I want mortal."_

Zoro stifles a laugh,

"There it is."

_"Shouldn't you focus on your training."_

"I'm trying here."

He had only managed to create tiny flame so far and his inability to create a larger one was frustrating him, but he must be patient. He spent hours trying to create a larger flame he had only succeeded in creating a flame as large as his palm. Deciding that he would return to this some other time he stands up and takes out his swords practicing a couple stances and abilities. He would try his Ashura form again but the last time he did that it didn't exactly end well so he was going to put that off for now and decided to practice his Haki along with the move that Ashura had taught him. Focusing himself he calls out,

"Ittoryu: Ashura Hakai!

He had about perfected it now it was time to try it with two swords, opting for a different stance since this time he had two swords. Facing the ocean to make sure that he wouldn't damage the ship he tries it,

"Nitoryu: Ashura Hakai!"

Doing this was odd, it worked yes but simply felt a bit off. He would have to work on it a bit,

_"You seem to be having fun with the moves I taught you."_

"Their powerful."

Ashura chuckles,

_"I know I'm the one that created them. But it seems your just repeating yourself over and over again, time to teach you something new now."_

This had caught Zoro's attention,

_"This one is called Ashura no Kohai."_

Zoro chuckles at him,

"You seem to name a lot of things after yourself."

Ashura ignores this,

_"This move, I won't recommend you try on your ship. Unlike Ashura Hakai, this isn't a strike to target someone but a strike to cause as much destruction not only to your target but also the surrounding area."_

"Hmm, I'll try that at Whiskey Peak then."

_"That would be recommended."_

Sighing Zoro sits down leaning on the side of the ship to rest, he almost chokes on the water he was drinking when he hears a voice.

"Who were you talking to?"

Wiping the water on his lips he looks to his left to see Nami standing there,

"No one."

She rolls her eyes at him,

"It's either you're talking to someone or you're going insane."

Zoro grumbles,

"You're too smart for your own good sometimes."

She brightens a bit obviously proud of his praise,

"So are you going to tell me."

"Nope."

She frowns at him before remembering the little incident at Kaya's mansion, grinning to herself she walks over to him. Zoro looks up at her confused before turning bright red when she sits on his lap and hooks her hands behind his head.

"W-what the hell are you doing!"

"I'm kinda sleepy and didn't want to walk to my room."

Zoro looks at her in disbelief trying to think of what to say, he can't think of anything so he decides to stay quiet and somewhat dignified. This would have gone on longer if a certain pervert hadn't stumbled upon them,

"Nami-swan I have you-"

Sanji looks at them before crying in outrage,

"What did you do to her you stupid moss-head!"

Zoro snarls at him,

"I didn't do anything she did this!"

"Tch like she would want to be anywhere near a moss ball like you!"

Finally having enough of their bickering Nami unhooks her arms from around his head and stands up shakily, she stretches a bit,

"Sanji-kun did you get me the tea I asked for?"

Sanji dropping his scowl to give Nami a love-struck face,

"Yes Nami-swan I put it in your room."

She sashays away toward Sanji and rubs the side of his jaw,

"Thank you Sanji-kun."

Sanji is blasted back by a nosebleed and Nami walks towards her room chuckling knowing that she would have to get Zoro's secret some other time. Zoro mutters under his breath something about perverted cooks, a certain orange-haired girl and how undignified he was. He knew that she was doing this simply to try get Zoro to tell her his secret but he'd be lying if he said he didn't like it, sighing he curses his hormones.

~At Whiskey Peak~

They had arrived at Whiskey Peak and Zoro had decided that he would confront Vivi about his knowledge of what she was doing. They had entered the town being welcomed something odd considering that they were pirates. Zoro finally sees Igaram or as he is currently know Igarappapa or Mr.8 within Baroque Works, grinning he watches as the crew run willingly into the trap the only one besides himself that seem cautious was Nami. But she too followed Luffy and the others into the town, Zoro was trailing behind him hoping to catch a moment alone with Igaram. Everyone is immersed in the atmosphere and Zoro sees this as his chance sneaking away he grabs Igaram and covers his mouth before he could yell. Zoro whispers in his ear,

"I need to talk to you and Miss. Wednesday."

Igaram stares at him in shock, Zoro continues.

"Meet outside in five minutes or I'll kill everyone here."

Igaram nods and runs off to grab Vivi, Zoro sighs sneaking away yet again hoping that nobody noticed his disappearance. He waits outside on the roof, he sees Igaram and Vivi emerge from the building. Looking around and seeing nobody else he hopes down from the roof scaring both Igaram and Vivi a bit,

"What do you want swordsman?"

Zoro grins at her,

"I'm here to help you Miss. Wednesday."

He says this next part in a much more hushed tone,

"Or should I call you Princess Vivi Nefertari."

They both jump back grabbing their weapons,

"H-how did you know who I was?"

Scratching his ear he complains,

"Could you be any louder, wasn't that suppose to be a secret."

She clamps her hand over her mouth in shock of confirming what he said, Zoro yawns and continues.

"Like I said I'm here to help, I know who's running this whole show and my crew is willing to help you guys. But at a price."

Vivi looks happy but Igaram doesn't look convinced,

"If you know who were are fighting against then you know that he is quite powerful. What makes you think you could defeat him."

Zoro grins,

"He's not the first Shichibukai I've faced and he won't be the last."

They both look at him in shock,

"Who did you face?"

"I faced Dracule Mihawk the Strongest Swordsman in the world."

They both continue to be shocked,

"Why would you help us?"

Zoro already walking away answers,

"I have my reasons, I'll defeat all the bounty hunters here then we will talk about the help that my crew can give you guys.

He disappears back into the building leaving a shocked Vivi and Igaram standing alone outside, he doesn't want to deal with any festivities right now so he opts to hide himself in a corner and sleep. He awakens a few hours after to see the lights turned off and everyone passed out in various spots of the room, sitting up and stretching a bit as he prepares himself fight the bounty hunters that had set this trap up for them. Appearing above the roof top he sees all the bounty hunters here for them, he grins to himself before taunting them.

"You guys are having an after party and didn't even invite us."

All the bounty hunters look at him shocked,

"Why is he here!"

"He should have been passed out with the rest!"

"That doesn't matter now we just got to kill him now!"

Zoro grins they weren't the only ones eager to kill tonight, while they weren't paying attention he hops off the roof. Now lets try this,

"Ashura no Kohai!"

The strike ripped through the bounty hunters surrounding him and created a spiderweb of cracks on the ground, standing up he looks around him to see the destruction that that the strike had caused. Happy with himself he sets to finish off the remaining bounty hunters which barely numbered 40 after his initial strike, slash, dodge, rend, deflect in a few short minutes he had finished off the rest of them. The only ones left up were Igaram, Vivi, Miss. Monday and Mr. 9. charges him, Zoro not really feeling like it after such a disappointing battle decides to end it quick.

"Sanjuroku Poundo Ho!"

Miss. Monday is sent flying back right into Mr. 9 and they both fall unconscious once they collide with the building behind them. Zoro shakes the blood off his swords and sheathes them,

"Now Vivi, Igaram go grab my crew and tell them that he would explain everything."

They nod at him before running off to grab his crew, Zoro sits down and waits for Mr. 5 and to appear. He doesn't have to wait long as they arrives a few minutes after Igaram and Vivi run to get his crew. They look at Zoro sitting upon a mountain of what they assume are corpses of the bounty hunters of Whiskey Peak, really not feeling listening to another villain talk about how they could never defeat them or how their boys would come and avenge them Zoro unsheathes Yubashiri seeing as it was the lightest and fastest blade of the three and rushes them. Without a single word Zoro was behind them and knock them both out with the back of his blade, he drags the body over to the mountain of "corpses" and throws them on top. He climbs up to the top and sits there meditating for a few moments before the Strawhats along with Vivi and Igaram emerge,

"ZORO WHAT DID YOU DO!"

Zoro really didn't want to fight Luffy right now so he yells at him instantly,

"They were bounty hunters after our bounties Luffy!"

Luffy stopped his cocked arm half-way and smiles at him,

"Why didn't you say so."

Zoro just groans at him before turning to Vivi,

"Vivi explain everything to them, I'm not in a great mood right now so I'm going to head back to our ship and take a nap."

Before she can even answer Zoro is already walking away, he doesn't understand it. It's odd of him to feel this way, being so easily irritable this couldn't be natural.

_"It isn't."_

He reels back not expecting Ashura to respond to him,

"What do you mean it isn't?"

_"You are like this because the Demon of the Core has awakened, he is searching for you. A for him to find you the mark must activate once activated the marked one is more susceptible to negative emotions like irritation, rage, lust, envy those kind of things."_

"This is going to be a really annoying time isn't it."

_"Yep."_

He even had the courtesy of making a popping sound at the p like a child, and Zoro's beginning to see his irritation levels rise,

"Guess you weren't joking."

Groaning Zoro decides that until he finds a way to get rid of this he would try to avoid the rest of the crew in hope that it wouldn't spark any incident of any type among them.

"Neh Ashura when do you think The Demon of the Core will reach me?"

_"I would say maybe a week after you guys defeat Crocodile."_

He grunts in annoyance, this was a lot less time than he would have wanted but he would have to work with what he's got. He just hoped that his plan would work,

_"What is this plan anyway?"_

"Not sure I want to tell you."

_"Why not?"_

"Didn't you create him, how do I know you won't just tell him to avoid it?"

_"I am a demon god whatever happens I care not for the outcome. Now tell me mortal I am far too interested for you to simply pass this by!"_

Sighing Zoro tells him his plan,

_"Fascinating I did not know such an ability could exist, are you sure it would work?"_

"I have no idea, I hope it works but if it doesn't well I'm kind of screwed."

_"No contingency plan?"_

"Nope that's all I got, if I do lose could you tell the Demon of the Core to leave me friends alone?"

_"I can try but he's a really bloodthirsty demon even if I created him I'm unsure if he will listen to me."_

Zoro sighs,

"Just try ok."

Ashura is silent, this is going to be a long week and he knew it and right after that there was a very big chance that he would die isn't that just great. He hears an explosion,

"I guess everything's going as it did last time."

He sets the ship ready to sail before rest of his crew along with a crying Vivi to appear all in panicked states, sighing knowing what just happened he tells them,

"I already prepared everything, we should get going now so we don't run into whoever did that."

They all silently agree and get to work while Nami takes Vivi to her room so that she could calm down after what had just happened. It wasn't until they couldn't see Whiskey Peak anymore in which everyone stopped working, they were all stick in shocked states after what happened. Nami walks up to him,

"Do you want to know what happened?"

Zoro looks at her tiredly,

"From your panicked state and the explosion I can only guess what happened, along with the fact that Igaram isn't here anymore and how much crying Vivi has done."

Nami could only silently nod at him, Zoro sighs.

"I think I'm gonna get some rest."

She looks worried about his current state,

"Yea I think you should get some rest you don't look too well."

Zoro mumbles something before walking towards the boys dorm before he remembers that Robin was suppose to arrive at their boat soon. Grumbling he steady's himself against the railing and waits a bit. He unsheathes Wado Ichimoji just to prepare himself for when she arrives, which was too long after.

"This is a nice ship."

Everyone jolted and looked in the direction of the voice, they see a woman sitting on the railing of their ship. Nami is the first one to speak,

"W-who are you?"

But it was Vivi who answered her question,

"Y-y-you're Miss All Sunday!"

Nami glances at her,

"Which number is her partner?"

"H-her partner is the boss Mr 0.!"

Everybody readied their weapons for a battle even Sanji drew a gun on her, the closes one to her was a very agitated Zoro who had his blade pressed up to her throat. She frowns at them,

"I'd appreciate if you wouldn't point such dangerous objects at me."

With that line everyone's weapon was snapped from their grip except Zoro's who had coated his arm with Haki to avoid her doing this, seeing that Zoro's weapon was still there her frown deepens. She is about to say something but Zoro interrupts her,

"As you can tell your powers don't work on me and I'm in a very irritable mood so please just say what you have to and get off our fucking ship."

She tears her gaze away from Zoro,

"I had run into Mr. 8 not to long ago and had acquired this eternal pose from him, if you truly wish to fight Baroque Works I recommend you use it and get to Alabasta as fast as you can."

She looks like she wanted to say more but Zoro stops her, through gritted teeth Zoro whispers to her.

"Get off our fucking ship **Nico Robin**."

This was the first time since she had arrived at their ship where she had been shocked, how could he have know and the way he said her name sounded almost demonic. Not willing to tempt fate she complies,

"Very well then, I do hope to see you all at Alabasta soon."

When she finally leaves the Strawhats all let out a breath, but Zoro simply growls and walks away. Nami was worried Zoro was usually more stoic and composed, ever since they returned to the ship he's been more like a wild beast than a dignified swordsman, she would have to ask him about it later once they plan things out.

~A While Later~

Nami just finished explaining the route to the crew minus Zoro, she was still annoyed with Luffy for crushing the Eternal Pose to Alabasta but she had more pressing matters to attend to regarding a certain green-haired swordsman.

"Sanji-kun I'm going to have a talk with Zoro regarding what just happened could you please keep anyone from disturbing us."

Sanji runs over,

"Yes, Nami-swan!"

Smiling she makes her way to the boy's dorm where Zoro currently resided, she knocks on the door.

"Zoro?"

She doesn't receive an answer, she opens the door and enters the room to see Zoro meditating in the corner.

"Zoro?"

He opens his eyes and glares at her,

"What do you want?"

Not expecting such a cold response she hesitates for a moment before continuing,

"What was that about?"

He growls out,

"She's a member of Baroque Works and she was on our ship, I wanted her off as soon as possible."

Nami could only agree,

"But you seem different more angry and feral, compared to your usually stoicism."

He grunts,

"I'm not in a good mood right now."

"But you were fine up until we had returned to the ship, what could have put you in such a bad mood."

Finally loosing his patience he lashes out,

"There are many things you don't know about me! Don't act like you understand me or my situation!"

With that outburst Nami takes a step back in shock and a bit of fear, she could hear Sanji rushing to see whats going on she opens the door and looks straight at him,

"Sanji let me deal with this."

Sanji seeing how serious she looked grits his teeth and stops, he looked like he was trying to dry swallow a pill before nodding at her. Nami seeing this turns back to Zoro and starts talking again this time in a much softer voice,

"Zoro you're my nakama if you need help you can come to me."

His glare darkens,

"How much of this don't you get! You can't help me, this isn't something you can help me with! This problem can only be dealt by me! Now do you get it!"

Her patience was also wearing thin,

"There are problems which you can't deal with by yourself. This seems like one of them if you open up to us we can help you. It's like how you helped me with Arlong, you knew what I would do but you didn't judge me for it. Well I'm here to do the same thing, you just have to open up."

Having enough of this conversation he unsheathes his blades and charges at her stopping right before his blade touches her throat, Sanji hearing Nami yelp barges into the room to see Zoro with his sword up to her neck. He's about to attack Zoro but Nami puts her hand up stopping him, he doesn't want to comply but he ultimately does. Nami watches as Zoro starts shaking he grabs his right wrist which was holding onto Sandai Kitetsu and wretches his hand away from her, he looks down and with a face filled with rage sheathing his blade and pushes past her growling under his breath. Quiet but not quiet enough for Nami not to hear it,

"Dammit you idiot, you lost control."

He pushes past all of them and starts climbing up to the crows nest, hoping that they would leave him alone. Calming his breath he resumes a meditative stance and hopes that he won't lose control muttering,

"Control, control, control."

Luffy looks up at the crows nest with a neutral face, unsure of what happened. He knew Zoro was loyal to a fault this display was something he would not have expected from Zoro. Vivi wisely decided to stay out of this by staying in the girls dorm, while Usopp looked completely lost. The biggest reaction were from Sanji and Nami, Sanji was seething his respect for Zoro disappearing after he had almost attacked a woman. While Nami stood quietly contemplating what just happened, remembering what he muttered before he left. He lost control? He always had great control over his emotions why would he lose control now? Hoping that this wouldn't lead to any undesirable outcome he takes a deep and calming breath before telling her remaining crew mates to disperse until she calls for them later. She looks directly at Sanji,

"Sanji drop it, I will get to the bottom of this I don't want you to interfere."

Sanji's anger doesn't diminish but he won't defy her words not unless he pulls a stunt like that again, if he did this time he wouldn't hesitate or hold back. He would kill him without a second doubt, that was a promise and a threat.

"Fine Nami-chan."

She could tell that Sanji really didn't want to listen to her since he had dropped the swan honorific that he usually has. Sighing she couldn't believe that this was the same person that had simply grinned at her when he knew that she was going to betray them and steal their gold. Something happened she was sure of it but with him being so tight-lipped it would be close to impossible to get it out of him. Groaning this is getting to be more and more of a headache for her and add to the fact they were going to war against an entire organization with over two thousand people and a Shichibukai. The crew hasn't been this divided in so long, Luffy was the captain yea but Zoro was like an anchor for the crew he was always there to back anyone up when they needed help and now with him in such an unstable condition she didn't know is she could rely on him if it came to it. This was one of the worst time for this to happen they are about to enter a life or death situation and one or she even she dare say the biggest hitter on on their crew was in an unstable condition where she wasn't sure if he could help them or not. This was getting grimmer and grimmer by the second. Having the reality of the situation finally hit her, she would have to resolve this or gods be damned she wouldn't die just because their strongest member couldn't control his temper.

~With Zoro~

Why did I lose control so fast, I know my negative emotions are suppose to be amplified but this is more than he had even imagined.

_"I didn't say they were amplified, I would say they are put to the max level practically dropping any control you had of your emotions."_

Going to fight a Shichibukai and here he was having mood swings, just fucking cheery. Control was key and he had lost it, screw this fucking Demon of the Core I am who I am, there's no way hes just going to let some demon control him. Meditating would be great but now he had something to do first, standing up and cracking his body a bit. He grabs the ledge and hops out of the crows nest and heads to find Nami, he finds her inside her room charting something out. He knocks on the already opened door her gaze jolts up to him,

"Hey Nami, I'm sorry for yelling at you and almost cutting you down."

Nami looks at him somewhat shocked before responding,

"Apology accepted, but what was that?"

Zoro sighs he couldn't tell her not yet,

"I can't tell you yet, I know I have no right saying this but please be patient with me. These two weeks or so will be difficult not only because of our impending battle with Crocodile and Baroque works. But because I won't have full control over myself, I can't explain why I don't have full control yet. I will one day tell you guys everything but for now my secret will remain just that a secret."

Nami looks at him quizzically,

"Can you at least hint to what's wrong with you?"

He chuckles darkly,

"A monsters coming either to us or from me."

He leaves her with that cryptic message, he can only wonder what he means but no matter what it means its sure not going to be a good thing for the Strawhats. At least one problem was somewhat solved, even in his emotionally unstable state Zoro would still help them which is a huge relief. But that still doesn't completely take away from his words, a monster either coming to us or from him? What does that mean? Groaning she can only wonder what kind of sin she had committed to be place within such a dysfunctional crew. She drags herself out of her room to get some food from the kitchen after getting a sandwich from Sanji she watches the log pose to see if they were on track to the first island on their quest to Alabasta, wondering how they were going to win against a two thousand plus organization and a fricking Shichibukai. She could only hope that not only do they win but that no one die in the process of them achieving this.

**That's a wrap, longest chapter yet started off great hit a few road bumps along the way and kinda ran blank near the end. I finished this at like 1:30 in the morning so I am completely exhausted right now, I was so tired that I had expanded upon the Nami/Zoro relationship subconsciously. Like I had no idea what was going on I just kept on typing whatever came to mind and this is what happened, though not disappointed I feel it would have been better if I wasn't as exhausted to write it. A bit to add on I would like to give a name for the Demon of the Core, but I've never been good with names so I would like to hear suggestion for names for the demon, just send me a pm and I'll either set a poll for what we should call the demon or just choose which name I think would be best for him. But with that this it brings us closer to Robin joining the crew which brings me to the topic of ships, not the boat ship I'm talking about relationSHIPS. I have put it off for now but I really wanted to add a bit of romance into the story and I can't see Zoro ending up with anyone besides A Nami B Robin or C an OC. I'm gonna set up a poll soon so check my profile for that. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	12. Elbafian Warriors and a Sick Navigator

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man. ****Also if you haven't voted for the poll please do, the poll is on my profile.**

After that little incident the Strawhats were on edge, Sanji was cautious and keeping an eye on Zoro preparing in case he was going to strike out against Nami again. Usopp was trying not to be scared at Zoro, but he was miserable at hiding it. Nami was trying to play peace keeper but wasn't making too much progress and Luffy was the oddest of them all, he's been oddly silent ever since that incident. Something which had never happened before and this was worrying to all of the Strawhats, they had never seen Luffy silent for this long this couldn't be a good sign. Zoro sighs grumbling to himself about annoying gods and such, now thanks to the Demon of the Core messing with his emotions, the crew is precariously balancing on a thin pillar. One wrong move and the whole crew could fall apart and he knew it, this was very aggravating to him. But he wasn't good at these situations so he opted to just be silent and avoid the crew instead, this was the only way he could control his emotions enough. They were about to reach Little Garden and his emotions were still difficult to control, sighing Zoro climbs down from the crows nest and heads towards the kitchen. Once he enters the room it goes silent,

"Morning."

He only gets a response back from Nami and Vivi, he sighs knowing he wasn't going to be able to sweep this under the rug something had to be done or their crew wasn't going to last long. Though he knows that Usopp will come around himself eventually and Luffy was in a weird state which no one has ever seen him in. Sanji would be the biggest obstacle here, he hears something being place in front of him, he looks up to see Sanji glaring at him. He knew out of everyone the person that would be the most difficult to reconcile with would be Sanji and if this kept on going on their relationship would never mend, if he was going to reconcile with him it would have to be very soon. After everyone had finished their meals Zoro stays behind to talk to Sanji,

"What are you doing here you shitty swordsman."

Sanji spits out in a harsh tone directed towards Zoro and as much as he tried to control it, Zoro was getting angry at that simple statement. God this was not going to be easy is it,

"I'm here to bury the hatchet between us."

A simple statement yet Sanji would never just accept a simple statement like that,

"What no apology? What kind of swordsman are you, why don't you get on your knees and apologize like the man you say you are."

Feeling his anger rise again he takes a deep breath,

"I didn't do anything wrong to you so I see no need to apologize to you."

Sanji was seething,

"You almost hurt Nami-chan and you think you don't have to apologize!"

Zoro takes a step forward staring blankly at him,

"I don't have to apologize to you, I had almost hurt Nami and I know that. That was why after that incident I had apologized to her."

Sanji recoils a bit, he actually apologized to her? He didn't expect this,

"You did?"

"Yea, after I had calmed myself down I went to her room to apologize for what I did."

Somewhat relieved but still slightly on edge,

"How do I know you won't ever do it again?"

Zoro hesitates before answering,

"You can't."

Sanji grits his teeth,

"What do you mean!"

Zoro sighs rubbing his head,

"I mean that when that had happened I didn't have control over my body."

"That's no excuse for almost attacking a lady!"

Zoro's patience snapped,

"WELL YOU AREN'T THE WHO MIGHT DIE IN SOON!"

They both recoil from this statement, Zoro growls at himself for losing his composure and Sanji well he looks at Zoro in shock,

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly feeling exhausted Zoro walks over and takes a seat before responding,

"I'm being hunted by a demon that's feeding off my negative emotions."

Sanji looks at him in disbelief,

"If you're going to make an excuse at least come up with a believable one."

He thought Zoro was joking around before he looks at him noticing just how serious Zoro was taking this,

"God you aren't joking."

Gritting his teeth Zoro finally lets himself slump down in exhaustion,

"Yea, I found out after we left Whiskey Peak."

"How?"

Chuckling a bit Zoro answers,

"A god."

Wanting to scoff but stopping when he remembers that Zoro was being hunted by a demon so it couldn't have been that unbelievable,

"Feeding on you're negative emotions?"

Zoro nods and looks up at him,

"There's a mark placed on my body that causes me to lose control to my negative emotions easily, leaving a strong trail for the demon to follow me."

Sanji lights a cigarette digesting all the information he just learned,

"Why is it hunting you?"

Zoro sighs at him,

"I can't tell you that."

Sanji decides not to pry on that part,

"So you're going to die?"

Leaning back Zoro closes his eyes,

"Probably, I have a plan that may or may not work in defeating him but I've never had the chance to test it out since I've only come across one demon since I discovered it and this demon probably won't let me test it out on him."

_"Plus I'm much stronger than you, so the chances of it working are slim to none."_

Sanji stays silent and Zoro sees his as an invitation for him to leave, standing up he heads towards the door,

"Why?"

Zoro turns around,

"Why what?"

Sanji walks towards him,

"Why won't you tell the rest of the crew this?"

Zoro sighs,

"It would be better if they didn't know, this is my problem and I'll deal with it."

"But you can't!"

Zoro looks at Sanji shocked to see something he hadn't seen on Sanji's face for a while a bit of fear and sadness,

"You can't deal with it! You just told me!"

"This has nothing to d-"

Sanji interrupts him,

"That's doesn't matter how do you think the crew would feel about you dying! As much as I dislike you for how you act, you hold a place in everyone's heart within this crew"

Zoro had been trying to avoid the topic but he had to bring it up,

"You may not seem that vital to the crew but you're like the lifeblood to the crew! We know that no matter what we do or if we're defeated you'll always be their to help us or protect us! What do you think would happen if you were to die!"

Zoro never remembered Sanji being like this and he didn't know how to react,

"I know it may seem like I hate you but I still respect you, you may not show it but you're the strongest one in the crew and I'll be damned if I just sat around and let you die."

Zoro looks at him shocked before smiling at him,

"Don't worry about me I'll be fine."

Not believing him for a second but knowing that pushing Zoro wouldn't help he lets Zoro exit the kitchen, unknown to both of them Luffy had been behind one of the walls of the kitchen listening in on the conversation. Letting one of his arms limply fall, he stumbles to get up and heads towards the boys dorm. Many thoughts were running through his head but the one thing that stood out was,

"Zoro's going to die?"

He wouldn't let that happen, no one in his crew was going to die. Frowning Luffy gets onto his hammock and tries to go to sleep, trying to settle the fears that arose from hearing that conversation between his First Mate and Cook.

~At Little Garden~

They had finally arrived at Little Garden, Nami was relieved that the situation between Zoro and Sanji had been resolved. She didn't know how but it didn't really matter how it got resolved all that matters is that it got resolved, honestly everything seemed to have simmered down which was good. The only thing left was Luffy, he was still silent through most of the trip there. She didn't know why, the only thing she knew was that Luffy was never like this, something must be wrong but she had no idea what. Sighing she decides to head out and follow Zoro as he heads into the forest prompting that she should watch over him in case anything were to happen. Especially with his words to her that night still ringing through her mind, what monster could he be talking about and how would it come from him? He was too damn perplexing sometimes,

"Zoro slow down a bit!"

Zoro spares her a glance before sighing and slowing down, he wasn't expecting her to follow him. She wouldn't be bad company as he saw her as the most bearable one out the whole crew, though he still worries since he has very little control over his emotions he didn't want to cut her down or worse.

"Why did you follow me?"

She hesitates a bit before answering hoping that what she says won't set him off,

"I'm here to keep an eye on you to make sure you don't do anything stupid and that nothing happens to you."

Zoro chuckles at her before forging through the forest, even at his slower pace she had trouble keeping up with him. She stumbles and falls groaning in annoyance she calls out to Zoro,

"Zoro, can you carry me?"

Zoro looks at her somewhat annoyed,

"Why would I do that, if you couldn't follow me you shouldn't have."

Pouting at him she responds,

"Well don't you still owe me for paying for your swords?"

Zoro freezes, he mentally growls cursing himself for forgetting that little detail.

"I'll pay you back some time, but what does that have to do with this situation."

Her pout deepens before she remembers a certain detail at a mansion, she grins mischievously.

"Well if you had carried me I would have taken off 10% of the berries you owe me, but I was thinking since you were carrying me it would be a reward in itself."

Zoro looks at her confused,

"How would carrying you be a reward?"

Her grin widens,

"Well you get to feel my body pressed up to you, my breast rubbing up against your back and your arms on my-"

Shes interrupted by a very flustered Zoro,

"Ok, ok I get your point."

She laughs at his red face, he glares at her a bit but crosses his legs just slightly.

"I'll carry you jeez, just don't bring that up again."

Her laughter decreases to a light-hearted chuckle, she climbs upon his back and Zoro sets off again. Trying to control his emotions so that he won't let his lust run rampant he focuses on the path before him and the sounds that surround him.

"When do you think you can tell us what's affecting you?"

Zoro grunts,

"I don't know, I really do want to tell you but I don't think the time is right yet. I will tell you all someday but not now."

Nami frowns at this, this secret of his was really grind at her gears. She wanted to know so bad but knew not to provoke the swordsman, sighing she rests her head on his shoulders and closes her eyes. She thinks about the swordsman who's back she was currently on, how much does she really know about him. Close to nothing except his dream and yet she trusted him so much, it was inconceivable. She opens her eyes and looks at Zoro how could she put so much trust into a man which she barely knew anything about? Willing to test her luck she asks,

"Neh Zoro who are you?"

Zoro's not sure how to answer,

"What do you mean?"

Nami huffs,

"I was just thinking that I barely know anything about you and I was kind of curious since I only know about your dream."

Zoro chuckles a bit,

"Well what do you want to know?"

Nami is surprised, half expected him to shut her down. She thinks for a moment of what to ask,

"Where are you from?"

Unconvincingly he answers,

"The East Blue."

"Yea I know that but where?"

He grins,

"I spent a large part of my childhood at a dojo at Shimotsuki Village."

"Who are your parents?"

His grin drops a bit,

"No idea, I"m an orphan."

Hesitating a bit she asks,

"Then who raised you?"

Zoro looks up reminiscing about the dojo,

"The dojo master Koushirou had taken care of me for most of my life."

Nami smiles at him and is about to say something when they hear a volcano erupt, followed by rumbling throughout the forest and the emergence of two giants. Nami is too shocked to speak while Zoro narrows his eyes at them, wondering if they were friend or foe. Zoro lets Nami down and they hide while watching the two giants duke it out, Zoro seems interested in what was going on but decides that sticking around might not be a good idea. He starts walking away, Nami breaking from her dazed state chases after Zoro. Zoro focuses his Observation Haki on the surrounding area nothing except beast surrounded him and none dared to attack him due to the aura he exuded, he listens in on the clash between the giants and after a moment it becomes quiet. Stopping and looking at the direction of the giants once, he turns back and continues on his way to find the Baroque Works agents on the island.

"Nami I think you should head back to the ship."

"Huh, why?"

Zoro grins at her,

"Just trust me."

Nami looks at Zoro studying him once again but this time with a lot more detail, she grows flustered and turns away.

"Fine I'll head back to the boat but if I die I blame it on you."

Zoro chuckles at her,

"Sure, sure."

He turns away and starts walking deeper into the forest, Nami watches as he slowly disappears into it. Putting her hands to her face she wonders,

"What just happened?"

~With the Baroque Works Officers~

"Have the Pirates arrived?"

She looks at him,

"Yes they have, Mr. 3"

He grins to himself,

"Time to put the plan in action!"

They turned towards the forest where they hear something rustling in the foliage, out steps Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.

"What are you two failures doing here?"

Mr. 5 growls at him,

"The Strawhats are our target."

"Fufufu but you had failed to capture them. The boss is too busy to send someone to hunt you guys down, but I could kill you guys here and send your heads to him."

Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine ready themselves just in case Mr. 3 decides to attack them,

"We'll complete our mission!"

They hear chuckling,

"No you won't."

They look at the person who had just arrived,

"Pirate Hunter Zoro!"

He groans at this,

"Do they still call me that? I thought I told them to call me Demon Wind Zoro instead."

Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine both take a step back in fear before steeling themselves,

"YOU! You knock us out!"

"Yea I did, what are you going to do about it?"

Mr. 5 charges at him,

"I'm going to kill you!"

Grinning Zoro dodges any attempt Mr. 5 makes to strike him laughing while doing so,

"You're too weak to defeat me."

Growling Mr. 5 finally takes out his revolver and aims at Zoro and shoots, Zoro not remembering what the revolver does, stands ready to cut down a bullet only to be met with air.

"Hah did your weapon malfunction!"

Mr. 5 grins at him,

"It didn't."

Zoro is blasted back by an explosion, growling he picks himself up.

"I wasn't going to kill you guys but now I am."

Mr. 5 scoffs at him,

"Like you ever could."

He's proven wrong when Zoro disappears from his sight, just to reappear behind him sword ready.

"Gyuki: Yuzume !"

The strike knocks Mr. 5 unconscious and sends him flying away into a tree. Zoro grins,

"Who's next?"

Mr. 3 scoffs at him,

"Mr. 5 was weak anyway, fight me and I'll show you how true an officer of Baroque Works should be!"

Zoro remembering that Mr. 3 had forced him to try cut his own legs to escape grows annoyed at him,

"Not you, Sanjuroku Poundo Ho!"

A quick an easy strike which Mr. 3 had not expected,

"2 down 2 to go."

He looks at the two remaining members of Baroque Works,

"Take your friends and leave and I won't hurt you guys."

Finally taking the message they nod and scurry away, grabbing Mr. 3 and 5 with them, Zoro sighs.

"These bastards are really damn annoying."

He sheathes his blades and starts making his way back to the ship, he hears the volcano erupt again.

"Heh the giants are going to fight again. This time without one of them being attacked before it."

He smiles to himself before continuing on his trip back to the ship, he arrives at the ship to find nobody on it. He narrows his eyes,

"Where did everyone go and didn't I tell Nami to head back to the ship? Did she get lost?"

Sighing he decides to deal with it later, he boards the ship and decides to start training a bit. Hoping to finally get his Haki to reach further than his elbows he focuses on expanding it. While he was doing this he doesn't notice Nami and Usopp return to the ship, they climb aboard to see Zoro sweating profoundly and focused on his arms. They wonder what he was doing before they start to notice his arm was turning black, watching in wonder they had to question what it was. But unlike Nami Usopp wonders out loud,

"What is that?"

Hearing a voice Zoro loses his concentration his Haki disappears and he growls, he turns towards the voice to see Usopp and Nami.

"When did you guys get here?"

Nami answers,

"Just now, but like Usopp asked what was that?"

Zoro steady's himself and sits down,

"That was something called Haki."

They look at him confused,

"Haki?"

He nods,

"Or more specifically what I just showed was Armament Haki."

"What does it do?"

Zoro cracks his neck and stretches a bit before answering,

"It allows you to create a sort of armor on your body."

They seem very fascinated by this,

"How do you do it?"

"I focus my spirit to create it."

They look at him confused,

"Spirit?"

He sighs,

"I explain in more detail some other time, but I'm just saying you will all have learn this eventually. It's going to be very useful on our journey through the Grand Line."

Usopp responds,

"Yea, you said it's armor so it'll protect us."

Zoro looks at him,

"Not only that, Armament Haki allows a person to injure a person who had a Logia Devil Fruit."

"Really?"

Groaning he responds,

"Yes, now can you stop asking questions I need a break."

They nod at him before leaving him alone to rest on the mast, but he jolts up.

"Hey wait a second where's Luffy, Vivi and Sanji?"

Nami peaks out from her room to answer,

"Luffy and Vivi are with the giants and I don't know where Sanji is."

"Hmm..."

He decides that they would return eventually so he closes his eyes and takes a nap. He's awaken later when he hears Sanji yelling,

"Nami-swan I have returned!"

He rubs his eyes and stands up stretching a bit, he looks towards Sanji to see him running towards the ship followed by Vivi and Luffy who were both atop Karoo. Luffy was smiling but still not as bright as it used to be, he wondered what that was all about. Luffy jumps onto the ship shouting,

"We made friends with giants!"

He was laughing like crazy and everyone was exchanging there stories of what they did on the island, they all look at Zoro.

"What?"

Sanji responds,

"What did you do on the island?"

He grumbles out,

"Something."

Nami didn't take that answer,

"Well tell us then! We made friends with giants and Sanji got us an Eternal Pose to Alabasta, what did you do after I left?"

Sighing he answers,

"I cut down two members of Baroque Works."

They quiet down looking at him,

"Seriously?!"

He nods, Sanji speaks.

"I knew they were on the island but I found it weird, since I found their little wax hut but I never saw any of them."

Vivi speaks up,

"Who did you face?"

Grumbling he answers,

"There was four of them I think it was Mr. 5, Miss Valentine, Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek."

Nami looks at him oddly,

"You said you cut down two of them, but there was four members. SO what happened to the other two?"

"They finally got the message, they grabbed their partners and ran with their tails between their legs."

Vivi seems on edge,

"What's got you so tense Princess?"

She looks at him,

"We're going to war against a Shichibukai."

He chuckles,

"Fair enough."

They continue their conversations while Zoro tunes it out to take a nap. They were heading to Drum Island soon that means they'll pick up Chopper, if all goes accordingly that is. Sighing he finally sleeps hoping to pass the time until they reach the next island, though he knew that someone was going to get sick from a bite they had acquired from Little Garden, he'll deal with it when he wakes up.

~A few hours later~

Zoro wakes up, he looks around for the crew but doesn't see them anywhere. Then suddenly he feels a warm liquid run down his shirt, he looks down to see blood coming out from his body.

"What the hell?!"

He looks around again to see the surrounding area except for the ship turn pitch black accompanied by a laughing voice, he shouts out.

"Who's there?"

He makes a grab for his swords to find them missing, he growls.

"Who the fuck are you."

The voice finally responds,

_"You know who I am swordsman."_

Zoro recognizes the voice as the one he heard at Arlong Park,

"It's you."

_"Yes, mortal I am coming soon, hahaha. Your body shall be mine."_

He growls at him,

"I'm not letting you just take my body!"

He couldn't see it but he felt the demon grin at him,

_"Ohh I know, but you can not stop me mortal. Have fun with the little time you have remaining, hahaha"_

Zoro jolts awake, this time actually waking up, the environment around him was real not the dream that the demon conjured up to speak to him. He stands up shakily, he rubs his neck to feel something wet. He was sweating profoundly, groaning he drags himself to the bathroom to wash it off. But while he was walking there he notices the majority of the crew in Nami's room, he walks in.

"What's going on?"

Usopp answers,

"Nami's sick!"

Zoro looks at her, her face was red and she was sweating even more than he was. They would have to head to Drum Island soon, nodding he silently makes his way to the door and sits by it watching her carefully while doing so. But Nami starts to speak,

"E-everyone, can y-you leave. I-i need to s-speak to Z-zoro."

They want to argue but in her current state they know that it wouldn't help anyone, so they silently leave the room and Zoro closes the door behind them.

"So why do you want to speak to me?"

Nami coughs a bit struggling to speak, Zoro grabs some water for her.

"Here drink this."

She does and sighs,

"Pathetic aren't I."

Zoro smiles,

"Just a bit."

They both laugh before quieting down a bit,

"Zoro, I might die soon."

Zoro looks at her,

"No you're not, we're going to find a way to save you."

Nami smiles at him before resuming,

"I have no doubt you'll try, but even if you try there's a chance you might not succeed."

Zoro frowns,

"Is that what you want to say?"

Nami coughs a bit,

"Before I might die I just want you to tell me one thing."

Zoro look at her knowing what she was probably going to ask,

"My secret?"

She nods,

"I don't want to die without knowing, you've been keeping that under wraps for so long I've been dying to know. But now you know literally."

He chuckles at her, he knows that they most likely will save her but to deny her a request when she was at Deaths door well that won't end well so he reluctantly complies.

"Fine I'll tell you."

She brightens a bit,

"But when you get better you can't tell anyone."

She nods, he sighs not knowing how to put it. But never one to beat around the bush he speaks,

"I'm from the future."

She coughs and looks at him,

"You're j-joking."

He sighs at her,

"I'm not, my body is physically in this time but my mind is from the future."

"I-is that h-how you knew so m-much?"

He nods,

"We'll talk more when you get better ok."

She smiles and closes her eyes,

"Sure."

Sighing he heads out of the room to let her rest a bit, he walks to the bow of the ship and looks out.

_"Not sure if you did the right thing?"_

"Yep."

He then remembers something,

"Hey Ashura, how close is the Demon of the Core now?"

_"His pace has not changed, the time I had stated early should still be correct. Why?"_

Zoro sits down,

"I had a dream, he invaded my mind. I talked to him int he dream, why was he able to do that?"

_"I have said before he is the most powerful creation I ever had and he's constantly evolving with each host so even I am not sure ow powerful he is."_

Sighing he decides to take his mind off things by training until they reach Drum Island. But luck wasn't on his side as when he turned to find a spot to train he's struck by an incredibly large amount of pain, he falls to his knees griping his chest. He speaks through gritted teeth,

"What's going on?"

_"The Demon of the Core is getting closer and closer to you."_

Zoro growls,

"I get that but why is it hurting me?"

Sighing Ashura answers,

_"He is starting to slowly feed off of your life __essence."_

Dark spots were beginning to appear in Zoro's vision,

"Life essence?"

Ashura answers,

_"Your soul."_

Zoro notices Sanji and Luffy running towards him, but he can't hear what they were saying everything was mumbled to him and he was slowly losing conscious.

"He can do that?"

_"Most demons can, I will stop him from absorbing your life essence now don't worry. But this just shows just how powerful he is."_

"I get it he's powerful now piss off you're giving me a headache."

Luffy and Sanji were dragging him somewhere,

_"Fine Roronoa, but he absorbed a large amount of your life essence. You will not wake up for a while."_

Right before he falls unconscious Zoro can only think,

"Why is my life so screwed up."

**That's a wrap this was a harder chapter for me to write, though I'm going to say most of the Alabasta arc is going to be hard for me to write. Since this arc is one of the arcs I remember the least about, though I putting a bit more focus on the arc where Zoro will have to finally confront the Demon of the Core. Though still looking for names for the demon, I'm looking forward to trying to write about it. Though I don't think it's really going to be a full arc, I feel like its going to be more of an extended fight than anything. Though I have a few ideas of how to expand it a bit and I really want to try it out and see what happens I'm still unsure if it will end well. Honestly with these past two chapters it's been harder and harder to think of ideas to write, and I don't like that. But most probably the pace in which I update will slow down a lot, maybe to the point where I only update one chapter every two days. Though some of you may not like it, I'm kinda running on fumes now and that will most likely happen soon enough. Though I will try to avoid that as long as I can. Once again if you're reading this and like it thanks for reading.**


	13. The Doctor and the Dying Swordsman

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man. Also if you haven't voted for the poll please do, the poll is on my profile, if no one votes by chapter 15 I'll decide myself.**

This was not a good day, hell this one of the worst days he's had since joining this crazy crew. Sanji sighed as he thought about what just happened, first they're going to to fight a Shichibukai and his two thousand or so subordinates, then he finds out that Zoro was being hunted by a demon no less, than when they leave Little Garden Nami becomes incredibly sick. Leaving the crew without a navigator and with her being sick Nami revealed that situations in Alabasta are getting worse with the royal army losing many men, and after finding out about this they walk out to see Zoro grunting in pain before passing out. This was seriously a bad day for the Strawhat crew, sighing he tries to take things off his mind by focusing on the meal he was preparing. He was making some soup for Nami to drink to see if it would help her condition in anyway, once finished he take it to her room. Knocking on the door before entering he finally sees Nami, talking in a soft voice.

"Nami-chan I've made some soup for you to drink."

Nami looks at him and struggles to sit up,

"Thank you Sanji-kun."

He just smiles at her, watching as she slowly drinks the soup. He sits down in the chair next to her bed,

"Sanji-kun what happened outside, I heard a bit of yelling not too long ago."

With her words Sanji's smile drops a bit,

"Nothing happened Nami-chan."

He looked at her and knew that she didn't buy it for a second,

"Sanji-kun tell me what happened."

He looks at her contemplating whether or not he should tell her, but he finally gives in.

"It was Zoro, we don't know what happened but when we came out we saw him on the grunting in pain before passing out."

Taking in this new information Nami grows worried,

"What do you think happened?"

Sanji frowns,

"We're not sure, there doesn't seem to be any injuries on him so he should have been fine. But he hasn't awoken since and everybody is really worried about him."

She really didn't like how things were turning out, first she gets sick and now Zoro's unconscious for a undetermined amount of time. She was really cursing how weak she was now, Sanji notices her frown.

"Don't worry about it Nami-chan we'll take care of it, you just rest. Everything will be fine."

She doesn't look convinced but complies anyway, knowing that in her current state there was little she could do to help anyone. Sanji sighs just knowing how distraught the whole crew was right now, with a sick navigator and their First Mate out cold for who knows how long. He would have to do his part in making sure everyone was safe, but he was interrupted from his thoughts when he hears Vivi calls the crew to Nami's room. Once everyone arrives Vivi speaks,

"Everyone, I've decided."

This phrase was making Sanji nervous, this was what Vivi had decided whether to head straight to Alabasta or to try find a doctor for Nami and now Zoro.

"We need to head to Alabasta as fast as possible."

Sanji freezes at this, if they do that then Nami could die. But before he can continue his thoughts he's interrupted,

"But to do that we need to find a doctor."

Sanji smiles but internally curses himself for ever doubting Vivi,

"If we want to get to Alabasta as fast as possible we need to have the best navigator to help us."

Sanji is overjoyed,

"I'm sorry for ever doubting you Vivi-chan!"

She smiles at them before becoming serious again,

"But if we're going to take this detour we're going to have to work even harder and get their even faster, I understand since we're down one man and a navigator it might be hard but we have to persevere!"

Luffy and Usopp give a resounding yea and Sanji calls out to her,

"I'm falling for you all over again Vivi-chan!"

She smiles at them before sending them off to man the ship, Sanji smiles to himself. Everything was going to be alright they would find a doctor and the two of them will get better again, there was nothing to worry about everything was going to be alright.

~At Drum Island~

Although they had a rough first encounter with the villagers of Drum Island everything else was going alright, they had Dalton show them a place to stay. The only problem that they had discovered so far is that there was only one doctor in the whole island, and they called her a witch that always had a monster by her side. Usually that wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that she lived in a castle at the top of the mountain, groaning Sanji couldn't think of any other way for them to get help for his friends. Seeing no other way he volunteered to go,

"I could take them up the mountain."

It was going to be difficult to carry one person up a frost covered mountain, but two he would have to be crazy to do that. But besides Luffy he didn't see anyone else that could do it,

"Luffy help me get them up the mountain."

Sanji finally turns around to look at Luffy and was surprised to see a despondent look on his face, Luffy had been a bit odd ever since Zoro's outburst against Nami a couple days ago. Nobody knew why he was getting better up until the day Zoro had revealed what was going on to him to Sanji, after that he return to a very odd state. Sanji didn't want to pry but this was affecting everyone's mood, Sanji respects that everyone has their own personal problems but if it's going to affect other people negatively they would have to fix it.

"Luffy?"

Luffy finally breaks through his daze and looks at Sanji,

"Yea sure Sanji."

Dalton addresses them,

"This is a very dangerous trip are you sure you want to do this?"

Luffy responds,

"We have to help them, we can't not do this."

Dalton sighs,

"Well may luck be on your side for this journey."

Luffy smiles at him and Sanji sighs grabbing Zoro he throws Zoro over his shoulder, they set off to find the doctor at the top of the mountain. To say it was difficult is an understatement, traversing snowy terrain while carrying someone and having wild rabbit looking creatures attacking him was not on his list of things to do. During their rare moment of peace in their journey Sanji speaks,

"Neh Luffy."

Luffy turns towards him,

"Yea."

"What's going on with you lately?"

Luffy's face drops a bit when Sanji asks this but he tries to hide it,

"What do you mean?"

Sanji shivers before readjusting Zoro on his shoulder,

"Luffy, you know what I mean. Everyone sees it, you aren't as happy as before."

Luffy frowns at him,

"Two of my friends are sick why would I be happy?"

Sanji glares a bit,

"Your mood started changing even before they got sick, it started when Zoro had almost attacked Nami."

Luffy sighs knowing that there was no reason to hide it anymore,

"Yea I was upset, I didn't think Zoro would ever hurt someone on our crew. But I believed that he wouldn't and the days after that he proved me right."

Sanji looks at him oddly not expecting this from Luffy,

"Then why are you still so sad?"

Luffy is silent for a moment, Sanji begins worrying that he may have asked too much. But Luffy finally answers,

"I listened to Zoro and you talking."

Sanji hoping that Luffy wasn't there to listen to the conversation where Zoro said he was probably going to die,

"Which one?"

"Is Zoro going to die?"

Sanji's breath gets caught in his throat,

"Honestly Luffy I don't know, he thinks he might but we can never know."

Luffy doesn't respond,

"We can't stop him from hiding this from the rest of the crew."

Luffy's face drops even more,

"But when Zoro needs help we can always go and save him."

With that Luffy finally looks at Sanji with a glimmer of hope in his eye,

"Yea we can!"

Sanji laughs,

"We're all a crew and what crew would we be if we couldn't help one of our crew mates when their in danger."

Luffy smiles at him laughing again, Sanji smiles to himself it. It seems like a bit of a talk was all Luffy needed to get his spirit back, Sanji thinks that since Luffy's troubles were gone they should be mostly fine now. But hes proven wrong when he hears growling, he looks to see Lapahns chasing them.

"Ohh damn, Luffy run!"

This was really growing to be a frustrating trip up a mountain.

~At the top of the mountain~

Luffy and Sanji groan waking up, Luffy sees food and immediately dives for it. While Sanji sits up and looks around the room they were in, he's never seen this place before which instantly puts him on edge. He notices that Nami and Zoro are missing,

"Luffy!"

Luffy looks at him,

"Nami and Zoro are missing!"

Luffy shoots up and starts running,

"ZORO, NAMI WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!"

Sanji growls at his idiot of a captain before getting up and chasing after him, after running for a minute or so they finally find the room where Nami and Zoro are. They see an old woman in the room with them,

"Ehh who are you old lady?"

She grins before kicking Luffy across the room,

"I'm not old, I'm at the ripe age of 141!"

Sanji responds this time,

"That's still old!"

She looks at him with an evil glint in her eye,

"What did you say huh?"

Sanji recoils,

"N-nothing."

She laughs at them, but they notice Chopper and chase after him. At that moment Nami awakens, she groans and tries to sit up studying her surroundings,

"Where am I?"

Doctor Kureha answers,

"You're in Drum Island and I'm Doctor Kureha but you can call me Doctorine."

She blearily looks at her,

"Did you treat me?"

She takes a swig of her alcohol before responding,

"Nope, the one that treated you was Chopper my apprentice."

She shakes her head a bit and looks to the bed across from hers to see Zoro still unconscious,

"Did you guys treat him too?"

With this Kureha's grin drops a bit,

"We tried to."

Those words clear Nami's head a bit,

"Tried?"

Doctor Kureha sighs,

"We didn't find any external injuries on his body, so we assumed that all the damage was psychological. We're doctors but we can't heal psychological wounds all we can do is hope that he wakes up."

Nami looks at her slightly disheartened, they couldn't do anything about Zoro's condition. But to their luck Zoro also stirs awake at that moment, groaning Zoro sits up not noticing that he wasn't alone he starts grumbling,

"Fucking hate demons."

He finally looks around and sees that Nami and Doctor Kureha were in the room with him,

"Uhm, Hi?"

Nami and Kureha chuckle at his words,

"So what are your names?"

Nami looks at her,

"I'm Nami and hes Zoro."

Zoro grunts in acknowledgment,

"What did I miss out on?"

Nami shakes her head,

"Don't ask me I was like you."

Kureha laughs,

"You're going to have to wait for you friends to come back to learn about that."

Sighing Zoro lays back onto his bed and closes his eyes, Nami looks at him.

"You just woke up and you're going back to sleep?"

He groans at her,

"Let me sleep."

She chuckles at him,

"Sure."

They wait silently for Luffy and Sanji to return, which didn't take very long. Since they cam crashing in a minute later still chasing after Chopper, they don't notice Nami and Zoro are awake.

"Damn it Luffy why did you have to get in the way, now we've lost him."

Dusting himself off Sanji looks around the room they just entered and sees Nami, gain hearts in his eyes.

"NAMI-SWAN YOU'RE AWAKE!"

He dives towards her, while Luffy stands there. He rubs his eyes a bit before diving at Zoro,

"ZORO, ARE YOU GOING TO DIE?"

Nami looks at Luffy and Zoro oddly, while Zoro looks at Luffy and laughs.

"I'm still here aren't I."

Luffy still attached to Zoro starts talking through his snot and tears,

"B-but I heard you a couple days ago! Y-you told Sanji that y-you were going to die!"

Nami snaps her head towards them, this was the first time shes heard this. She notices Zoro visibly freeze up when Luffy says that, she narrows his eyes at him.

"Zoro what is he talking about?"

Zoro looks at her she does not look happy,

"Can we talk about this another time?"

"No, Zoro we're going to talk about this now!"

Kureha seeing this turn to a more personal matter excuses herself,

"Well I'll leave you kids here."

They watch as she leaves before returning their stares at Zoro, Sanji tries to help him.

"Come on guys he just woke up, I think we should give h-"

His words die in his mouth as he sees Nami glare at him,

"You're not free from this either, you knew but told none of us."

Sighing Sanji gets a chair, sits down and lights a cigarette,

"Zoro told me not to mention this to anyone."

Nami returns her glare back at a Zoro who still had Luffy attached to his head,

"Well are you going to explain?"

Zoro sighs,

"Luffy can you get off me first?"

Luffy nods and detaches himself from Zoro,

"Well start explaining Zoro."

Rubbing his head Zoro starts talking,

"I'm being hunted by a demon."

Nami looks at him like he just grew a second head,

"Stop joking around Zoro."

He growls,

"I'm not joking!"

Nami looks at him in disbelief,

"Seriously?"

Zoro nods,

"What the hell, why is a demon hunting you?!"

"I was marked by a demon god as the that demons new vessel and that demon had started waking up at Arlong Park. It had fully awakened after Whiskey Peak and has been causing me to experience a lot of negative emotions so that it could follow the trail and find me."

Nami sits silently taking all this information in,

"Is this why you acted out after we met Miss All Sunday?"

He nods,

"Why wouldn't you tell any of us about this?"

Zoro sighs,

"I didn't want to worry any of you guys, we were already going to fight a Shichibukai I didn't need you guys worrying about me too."\

Nami gets out of her bed and walks over to Zoro and slaps him,

"Can you machismo, we're all friends, you think we would just be fine if you up and died on us."

After the slap Zoro's anger was rising, he looked up at to give her a retort but the words die in his throat when he notices that Nami was crying,

"You had helped me when I was faced by my demon, why can't you just open up and let us help you with yours."

Zoro frowns,

"Arlong isn't an actual demon, the things hunting is an actual demon and one of the strongest ones to ever exists too."

This time Luffy responds,

"That doesn't matter! We're friends even if he's strong we'll beat him!"

Zoro chuckles darkly at this,

"How I wish I could be as optimistic as you are in this situation, but the chances of me defeating the demon is close to impossible. I would just rather disappear than have to guys deal with my death hanging over your heads."

The room is silent fro a moment, before Luffy interrupts the silence.

"How stupid are you Zoro."

Zoro splutters,

"The hell are you talking about."

Luffy looks him dead int he eye,

"We're nakama, if you're in trouble we'll help you and if we're in trouble you'll help us."

Zoro groans,

"You don't get it I don't want you to help."

But his words lie on deaf ears as Luffy notices Chopper peeking around the corner and chases after him, Sanji chuckles.

"Just give up Zoro, once he sets his mind to something he won't change it."

Zoro groans,

"I know."

Sanji head off to chase after Luffy, Zoro is left alone with Nami who seems intent on ignoring him. Sighing Zoro turns towards Nami,

"Nami."

She ignores him,

"Nami."

She still ignores him, getting annoyed he tries to stand up but ends up stumbling onto the floor. Cursing himself he uses the table to support himself before walking to Nami, he puts a hand on her shoulder and turns her towards him. She was still crying, he speaks in a very soft tone.

"I'm sorry Nami, I did what I believed to be the right thing to do. You guys may not see it that way and I understand now and I'm sorry."

He pulls her into a hug and he can feel her sniffling on him, they stay in that position for a while before they let go of each other. Zoro smiles at her and her face flushes, he assumes it's due to her still recovering from her fever. He stands up off the bed and stretches,

"Hey Zoro."

He turns towards her,

"Yea?"

She smiles at him,

"Remember to tell me about the whole future thing later."

Zoro pauses before cursing to himself, he had forgotten that he told Nami that he was from the future.

"Sure just ask me sometime when we return to the ship."

He walks back to his bed determined to get some sleep once he get onto the bed he jolts up, Nami looks at him.

"What?"

Zoro looks at her,

"Where are my swords?"

She shrugs her shoulders,

"I was unconscious through most of the trip too."

With that Zoro races out of the room,

"LUFFY, SANJI!"

She giggles to herself before laying back down to get some rest, while Zoro is running all over the place looking for the two idiots. When he finally finds them by the front gate, he hops of the and lands a bit behind them.

"Hey Sanji!"

Sanji doesn't look at him but responds,

"Yea what?"

"Where are my swords."

Sanji scratches his chin,

"I'm pretty sure it should have been in the room with you two, but I can't be sure since we passed out once we arrived and we were moved."

He turns towards Zoro to see that he was already racing back to the room,

"Hmph not even a thank you."

Zoro enters the room again to see Nami asleep, and slows down so not to wake her up and searches the room for his blades. He finally finds them underneath his bed, sighing in relief he takes them and props them up against his bedpost. He looks over at Nami's sleeping form and smiles,

"You guys were better friends that I could have ever imagined."

He finally stops staring when he thinks that maybe staring at her for so long was kind of creepy and climbs into his bed determined to get some rest.

~A While Later~

Zoro is awakened by explosions rocking the castle, groaning he sits up and looks around. He sees that nothing seemed to be destroyed in their room and sighs in relief, getting up from his bed he grabs his swords, taking one last glance at the room he goes to find the source of the explosion. He stumbles his way through the castle until he reaches the front gate, peeking out from the side he sees Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, and Kureha facing against Wapol and his two subordinates. Groaning he decides to leave them to Luffy and Sanji instead of steeping in, he stumbles back to the room hoping to get a bit more sleep. But he runs into Nami who was hobbling towards the front gate, he looks at her oddly.

"What are you doing?"

She stumbles a bit, Zoro catches her before she falls. With his help she rights herself,

"I was going to see what the explosion was."

He frowns at her,

"You shouldn't be out of bed."

She scoffs at him,

"Well neither should you."

He chuckles at her,

"Well we should both head back now, I just checked on them. Their only dealing with some random fool, it shouldn't be too much of a problem for them."

She sighs,

"Fine lets head back."

But Zoro stops her, she looks at him narrowing her eyes.

"What?"

He grins at her,

"You're still sick, you shouldn't be moving too much."

She snorts,

"So how am I suppose to get back to the room?"

He crouches in front of her,

"I'll carry you."

She wants to protest but she honestly didn't mind too much and was too exhausted to tease him, she mutters.

"Fine."

She gets on his back and he carries her back to the room, he puts her down in her bed and heads towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

He looks at her,

"I'm going to go train a bit, I've already been down for a couple of days. Can't be slacking now, I have to be stronger especially since we're up against a Shichibukai."

She sighs and lays down to go to sleep, he chuckles and exits the room. Hoping to find a space where they wouldn't disturb him and where he could train he starts wandering around the halls. After a couple of minutes of wandering he stumbles upon a mostly secluded room, grinning he shuts the door behind him and gets started on training. Once again he works mostly on his Haki, this time his Armament Haki covering his entire arm he sets off to try encase his entire body in Armament Haki. He focuses on achieving this goal for a while getting further and further though never fully encasing his whole body he had managed this time to get his Haki to his arms plus bits and pieces of his chest, back and neck. Sighing he falls back, not completely content with what he had achieved but still proud that he managed to get this far.

_"Keep up these good emotions and your trail might get faint enough for the Demon of the Core to lose his way."_

Zoro shoots up not expecting Ashura in that moment,

"What do you mean? Does feeling good emotions actually affect the trail, that I leave?"

_"No, but if you don't experience any negative emotion then you can't leave a trail. If you can't leave a trail then the demon can't follow you at the same speed it has been going."_

Zoro sits up and cracks his neck,

"But he will still find me eventually."

_"Yes, that is correct."_

Zoro sighs,

"Well I'll see how things turn out, though I don't have high hopes for this."

Ashura remains silent, Zoro contemplates the impending encounter with one of the most powerful demons to ever exist. This was going to be a make or break situation, either he manages to subdue the demon or he loses his conscious and body to the demon. Growling he can only think that he had came back to save his friends, not lose his body to some dumb demon. Filled with a new found determination Zoro decides to return to training, though this time not Haki training but the ability he will bet his life on. Grimacing Zoro readies himself,

"Tamashi no Tojikome!"

~With Nami~

After Zoro had left she stayed in bed for a few moments before getting out of the bed, grumbling at the stupid swordsman she exits the room to see what was happening outside. She peers over the balcony to see Luffy chasing a tall purple-haired man, narrowing her eyes in confusion he starts heading down to find an explanation for what was going on. Once she reaches the bottom floor Luffy and the man had disappeared, groaning she looks around to see Doctor Kureha sitting on top of Sanji. She starts walking towards them,

"Doctorine!"

Kureha pauses mid drink to look at her,

"What?"

Nami reaches her,

"What's going on?"

Kureha answers,

"The old king of Drum Island Wapol has returned demanding that we return the castle, which he had abandoned when he sensed the first thought of danger."

Nami narrows her eyes,

"So the old king of Drum Island, this Wapol character is the one causing all this trouble?"

Kureha nods at her, sighing Nami decides that since Luffy will take care of this she will return to the room to rest. But something stops her, a certain room in the castle starts radiates a large amount of light before not only does the light disappear but also the room itself. Staring in shock Nami starts to make her way to the room, but Kureha stops her.

"Stop it little girl, you need to rest. This is my castle, i"ll check to see whats going on."

Nami notices the frown on her face and complies heading back to the room but the events that had just happened still fresh in her mind.

"What was that light?"

She wanted to go investigate herself but knew that in her current situation it wouldn't be wise, so she silently waits in her room waiting for Kureha to return. After a few minutes Kureha returns dragging an unconscious Zoro with her,

"What happened to him and what was the light?"

Kureha throws Zoro onto the bed and sits down,

"Don't know what the light was, but I know that he was the cause of it. He should be fine though he had just recently woken up and he's already completely exhausted himself. What kind of man is this?"

Nami chuckles but hides her thoughts, Zoro had caused the light? What the hell happened, all they got was a bright light before an entire room just disappears. What did Zoro do? The enigmatic swordsman becomes more and more puzzling with each day and she did not like,

"Zoro is a determined man."

Kureha snorts,

"Yea I can tell."

They sit in silence before Kureha excuses herself from the room, Nami hears some yelling outside and peers out the window. Just in time to see Luffy send the purple-haired man, now identified as Wapol, flying with his Gomu Gomu no Bazooka. She smiles before noticing that there was also a small little creature there with him, she focuses her eyes to try see the creature but all she could make out was that he had brown fur and a pink hat. Though she can hear Luffy clearly due to him shouting,

"Join our crew!"

She muses,

"Guess we have another potential recruit to the Strawhats."

~A While Later~

The Strawhats were running, actually more like being dragged away in a carriage by a reindeer-creature. Who identified himself as Tony Tony Chopper, who coincidentally was a doctor. A position in which the crew needed to have filled, but they were running because of Doctor Kureha. Once Chopper had told her that he was joining their crew she flipped out, which led to their unceremonious send off from Drum Island. They had arrived at the ship dragging Zoro to one of the hammocks so that he can rest the crew sets to ready the ship and leave Drum Island. But before they can their attention is caught by a large bang originating from the castle, they look towards the castle to see a pink flare shoot up before exploding. Many more follow soon after the crew thinks nothing of this, until the sky starts raining pink sakura petals. The crew stares in wonder but the one person who was the most affected by this is Chopper, he starts crying and the crew is confused but before they can ask anything Chopper speaks.

"Doctor Hiriluk! Your dreams been complete, you can rest easy knowing that what you had set out to achieve has finally been achieved!"

The crew smile at him and Nami speaks,

"Guys I think it's time to initiate Chopper into the crew!"

With a happy mood and a pink filled sky the Strawhats continue their journey to Alabasta.

**That's a wrap I know this chapter focused more on Zoro's situation than anything else, which if you wanted a bit more of substance from the plot I'm sorry. I kinda ran into a wall here and was unsure of how move the story forward, so I went with what I thought would work and in my opinion it kind of did work. Next chapter the Strawhats will finally reach Alabasta which means they will finally meet Ace for the first time, or in Zoro's case the second time. Which will be an exciting part to write so I'm kind of looking forward to that, I'm still coming up with ideas for an OC for Zoro to fight since he can cut steel now Mr. 1 won't be too much trouble for him to fight. If anyone has any ideas pm them to me, it would be much appreciated. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	14. Arrival at Alabasta

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man. ****Also if you haven't voted for the poll please do, the poll is on my profile, if no one votes by chapter 15 I'll decide myself.**

Zoro grumbles,

"I've passed out way too many god damn times."

He was laying back in the crows nest annoyed with himself, he was not as strong as he wants to be and passing out was really not helping him progress. Now that since he had just "recovered", Chopper won't let him train so that he could rest and heal from everything that had happened to him. This inactivity was really annoying him and he was itching to fight again, but since they were just about to reach Nanohana he wouldn't get to fight anyone short of a few weak Marines. Sighing he starts climbing down the crows nest, thinking of ways to get the crew stay in Nanohana instead of heading out to Yuba. He already knew that the rebel base was here in Nanohana instead of Yuba, the only problem was convincing the crew to stay in here. But before he can think more about the situation he is interrupted by someone clearing their throat, he turns to see a slightly impatient Nami.

"Yes?"

She grabs his arm and drags him into her room,

"What the hell?!"

She looks at him,

"Start talking."

He narrows his eyes at her,

"About what?"

She sighs,

"You know, the whole time travel thing you spouted out while I was sick."

Zoro sighs and ribs his head,

"I had really hoped you would have forgotten about that."

She narrows her eyes,

"Why?"

"Reasons."

She scoff,

"Just start explaining."

Where to start, Zoro wasn't sure if he should tell her everything. Would it be a good idea, having one person know can't be that bad right?

"Well obviously like I said I'm from the future what else do you want me to say."

He was starting to get on her nerves,

"Well explain, how did you travel back in time, why did you come back, why are you so intent on hiding this from everyone else?"

He walks over to the door to check if anyone was nearby before closing it and locking it,

"If I'm going to tell you this not a single word leaves this room."

She notices his serious gaze and nods, he sighs taking a seat on the couch.

"Well ask one question at a time and I'll answer them."

"How did you travel back in time?"

He chuckles,

"A god."

She looks at him in disbelief,

"Are you going to be serious about this or not?"

He cranes his neck,

"I am serious."

"You're kidding.."

He chuckles,

"Wonder if he can talk outside of my head, actually I could ask right now."

_"No need to ask Roronoa I am already here."_

He looks at Nami to see that she still looks confused but didn't seem to hear Ashura's voice,

"Can you talk outside of my head?"

_"I can, but I simply choose not to."_

He chuckles,

"Well can you help me out here?"

He hears Ashura grumble but say yes, he looks back at Nami. Who was looking at him like he was insane,

"Zoro, this is either a lie or you're craz-"

She starts but is cut off,

_"Hello mortal."_

She recoils in shock,

"Who said that?!"

_"I am the Great God Ashura."_

Zoro grins at her,

"Told you I wasn't joking."

She stumbles backwards and trip onto the bed,

"S-so you're really from the future!"

He grimaces,

"Quiet down a bit will you."

She composes herself to ask him another question,

"Why did you travel back into the past?"

She knew she wouldn't like the answer when she sees Zoro's face darken,

"To save people."

She hesitates but her curiosity quelled her hesitation,

"Who?"

Now it was time for Zoro to hesitate, should he tell her?

_"You may do what you wish Roronoa, but no matter what happens you must deal with the consequences of your actions."_

Zoro sighs, deciding to do what he believed to be the right decision.

"All of us."

She looks at him oddly,

"Did something happen to us?"

His face darkens even more and he looked enraged, Nami was growing more and more uneasy.

"Everyone in the crew except for me. I was too weak to do anything, I could do nothing but watch as they killed every last one of you."

The gravity of his words hits her like a ton of bricks,

"We die?"

He can hear her shaking through her voice,

"Yea, we were on Raftel when the Marines and Blackbeard had attacked us. They hit us with a force many times more powerful than a buster call, with the help of four admirals and a Yonko's crew we barely stood a chance."

He hears her shiver, he looks up to see her huddled on the bed shaking in what he would have assumed fear.

"H-how did you survive?"

He chuckles,

"I don't know. After they killed Chopper and Brook I lost conscious, when I came around our crew was dead and the Marines were decimated. The only thing remaining was Blackbeard and Shiryu and in my unstable state after seeing everyone's dead body I killed them in blind rage."

He avoids her eyes so not to see her disappointment but is surprised when she engulfs him in a hug while crying,

"So you came back to save us?!"

He hesitates but responds,

"Yea, that was my goal. But I don't think I can, I'm far too weak and now I have a demon chasing after me to use my body as his vessel."

He hears her start talking,

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you've already done so much for the crew. We'll all get through this together don't shoulder the burden yourself, we're all friends and friends help each other."

He relaxes a bit,

"I want to but my situation is pretty grim, I'm strong but not strong enough. Especially with the demon hunting me, the chances of me still being fine by the end of the month is slim to none. I would have just preferred if you guys wouldn't have to watch me lose to the demon and never return as myself."

She wants to say something but the words die in her throat, she knew that he was right and arguing against it would just amount to nothing. They sit there in silence for a few minutes before they hear someone yell from outside,

"We've reached Alabasta!"

They quickly detach from each other and head out the door, when the crew see Zoro and Nami coming from the room looking quite disheveled they were curious of what happened. Well some of them were Sanji was crying his eyes out while glaring at Zoro, muttering something about tainting a maiden and an evil swordsman. But they're shaken from their thought when they hear Luffy cry out,

"FOOD!"

"Wait Luffy!"

Too late Luffy had already ran right into the town of Nanohana, everyone but Zoro groans at Luffy's antics. Zoro just chuckles and hops off the boat walking after him,

"Where are you going Zoro?"

He turns back to Nami,

"I'm gonna follow him to make sure he doesn't get himself into any trouble."

Content with his answer she sighs,

"Don't get into any trouble yourself!"

He laughs,

"No promises!"

With that Zoro chases after Luffy, still contemplating ways to convince the crew to stay in Nanohana without revealing that he knew more than he let on. It was either stay in Nanohana or head straight to Alubarna, both were better options compared to a fruitless trek to Yuba. Sighing he couldn't think of a way to convince them and he definitely did not want to travel to Yuba again, especially since that would only waste time. Then again since Nami knew he was from the future maybe he could ask her to help him with that, he grins she'll probably find some way to convince them she's a pretty crafty girl. With one problem out of the way he moves on to the next one, Ace, how should he deal with Ace. Making it so that Blackbeard never captures Ace is a good thing, but could disrupt the timeline immensely. Even if he wanted to tell Ace what was going to happen, he couldn't think of a way to tell him without revealing the same thing. He would just have to wing it when the situation called for it, sighing he hoped that what he was going to do is the right thing to do. Finally after a few more minutes of walking he sees a Luffy sized hole in wall and a lot of yelling coming from inside a bar. He chuckles and enters the bar to see another whole within the bar and Luffy sitting on the bar stool next to the hole,

"Neh Luffy."

Luffy turns around and brightens he tries to speak though due to the food in his mouth it was incoherent

"Zolo, I hab fund fud!"

Though he didn't exactly hear every word he understood the message, chuckling he responds.

"You know you shouldn't just tear walls into buildings too often."

He looks to see that Luffy ignored him in favor of eating even more food, sighing he walks towards the hole in the wall to see what Luffy did to it. He looks around before hearing someone stomping towards him, it was Ace.

"Hey, green hair did you do this to me?!"

Though he didn't want to he grew slightly annoyed at people mentioning his hair color,

"Don't call me green hair, and no I didn't. The one that did that to you is my captain Luffy."

Any anger that he had instantly dissipated,

"Luffy?"

Zoro nods and turns around to walk back into the bar, before he can even take a step Ace races past him. He hears Ace call out for him before he senses someone charging at him from behind, unsheathing Yubashiri he quickly turns to meet his assailant head on. He tilts his head to see that it was Smoker,

"Hmm, it's you."

Smoker growls at him,

"Why are you Strawhats here?!"

Zoro grins at him,

"We're pirates we can do whatever the hell we want."

Smoker scoffs at him,

"I'll just capture all of you."

He swings his jitte at Zoro, Zoro hops back and pulls out Sandai Kitetsu to fight Smoker.

"Now, now Smokey. Don't get all riled up, my captains having a moment with his brother right now and I would hate for you to ruin it."

Smoker pauses,

"Strawhat has a brother?"

Zoro chuckles,

"Don't think about it much. But I don't think that's going to stop you so I'm just gonna have to knock you out."

Smoker scoffs,

"I'm a Logia like you could even touch me."

Zoro's grin widens even more,

"As a matter of fact I can."

Smoker looks at him confused and cautious, Zoro activates his Haki coating his forearm and swords in it.

"The hell's that?!"

"What I'm going to use to defeat you."

Before Smoker can get another word out, Zoro charges at him bringing down Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu. Smoker was too slow to react and the blades connect to his temple, with the force behind the strike Smoker is instantly knocked out. Seeing his job done Zoro sheathes his blades and walks back to the bar. He sees Ace and Luffy happily conversing and decides not to intrude, but that doesn't happen as Luffy stretches his arm to grab Zoro dragging him to them.

"Ace this is Zoro he's my nakama!"

Zoro growls in annoyance at being dragged around, but straightens himself. Ace smiles at him,

"So you're Demon Wind Zoro, huh green hair."

Zoro perks up and growls at the same time, on one hand he was happy that they had started to call him Demon Wind Zoro instead of Pirate Hunter. But he was very annoyed to be called green hair,

"Yea, nice to meet you."

Luffy intrudes,

"Zoro, this is my brother Ace!"

Zoro spares a glance for Luffy before turning back to Ace,

"I assumed you guys knew each other someway. Though I never would have thought that your brother was Fire-Fist Ace."

Ace cocks a brow at this,

"You hardly seemed surprised and how did you know my name?"

Zoro shrugs,

"I'm hard to surprise and you're a wanted man with a bounty of 550 Million Berries on your head. How would I not know you especially since I was a bounty hunter before."

Ace wanted to believe him but something about this man was unsettling, he would have to make sure he wasn't a threat to Luffy before he left. He's interrupted from his thoughts when he hears Zoro talking,

"Well, I'm gonna head out Luffy."

Luffy pouts a bit but allows him to leave, Ace was expecting him to walk away but he walks towards Ace.

"We have to talk later Ace, but don't be stupid. Give up your chase on Blackbeard, you're not strong enough to beat him yet."

With that the swordsman walks out the bar leaving a confused Luffy and a very suspicious Ace.

"Neh Ace what did Zoro say?"

Ace laughs it off,

"It's nothing to worry about, now tell me what you've been up to."

Luffy's smile widens and he starts to recount his adventures, Ace wanted to listen but what Zoro had said still rang in his mind. How did he know? He was now sure that he would have to keep an eye on him to make sure he wouldn't hurt his little brother.

~With Zoro~

Sighing Zoro exits the bar, Ace did not look like he would trust him and that is not a good thing. But he would deal with it eventually, right now he could either head back to the ship or find a secluded spot to train. Deciding that training was a better idea he heads out to wander the town for a good place to train, but as his luck would have it he wouldn't be able to do that. Simply because lo and behold the Marines and Tashigi appear and are heading right in his direction, he grumbles and tries to hide himself. But with such a distinctive hair color it is not easy to hide, they notice him pretty quickly.

"Look it's Demon Wind Zoro!"

He knew he shouldn't but them just saying that was making him happy, he had finally escaped the pirate hunter name thank god. But pulling himself from his happy thoughts he still had to deal with an army of Marines, Tashigi moves to the front and glares at him.

"Surrender now Demon Wind, you're outnumbered and if you don't we will respond with severe force!"

He stretches, unsheathes Yubashiri and grumbles,

"Prepare yourself, I don't like cutting down someone who isn't prepared for a battle."

That seemed to infuriate Tashigi and she unsheathes her blade running straight at him,

"Weak."

He disarms her easily and knocks her back a few feet,

"Fight me when you can actually put up a fight."

He starts to walk away but hears her yelling at him and the Marines surround him,

"Why won't you cut me down!"

He sighs not this again,

"Is it because I'm a girl! I've worked hard to reach where I am now and people like you disgrace me!"

Having enough he turns back towards her and leaves his blade an inch away from her heart, staring her dead in the eye.

"Do you want me to cut you down?"

He sees her freeze and he feels immense pleasure from it,

"I won't cut you down not because you're a girl, no, I won't simply because you are too weak for me to waste my time on. But with your infuriating words I might just cut you down right here, is that what you want?"

He already knew his answer, her eyes shone with fear. Sighing he sheathes his blade and walks away,

"If anyone else wants to fight get here now, I don't have the time for this. Though I doubt you guys have the time either, your captains in the bar I knocked him out."

With that he walks away, the Marines open a path in fear while some start running to the bar to retrieve Smoker. Time to find a place to train, but his thoughts were interrupted again when he sees Tashigi following him. This was getting really annoying,

"Why are you following me?"

She's seething,

"I can't defeat you but I can keep track of you so that when we get Captain Smoker he can defeat you."

He laughs,

"Sorry to say, but the reason he's unconscious in the bar in because I knocked him out."

She scoffs at him,

"Like you ever could, Smoker-san is a Logia. You wouldn't be able to touch him."

He shrugs his shoulders,

"Doesn't matter if you believe me or not. I know what I did, he knows what I did. He'll have to live with the shame of being struck down in a single strike by a pirate."

Something about the confidence he exuded made her actually worry, did he really take out Smoker? If he did then there was practically no body here that could take him out now, she was enraged. How could scum like pirate become so powerful?

"How did you get so strong!"

Zoro ignores her,

"Hey, I'm talking to you don't ignore me!"

He speeds up to try shake her off, but she chases after him.

"Jesus lady leave me alone!"

"Not until you tell em how you became so strong!"

He scoffs,

"Why would I do that, you're my enemy."

Those words don't seem to register for her and she keeps on following him, he grumbles.

"I'm not gonna be able to train with this fucking Marine following me everywhere. Better head back to the ship instead."

But he seemed to be down in his luck recently cause as he arrived it seems that the ship was moved, he slams his head into his palms.

"God damn it I forgot that we moved it."

He turns around to head towards the ship again but is blocked by Tashigi,

"Tell me how you became so strong you pirate!"

Grumbling he pushed past her and heads back into the town, after a few minutes of walking he spares a glance behind him to see Tashigi still following him. Groaning to himself he gave up on trying to lose her and decided to just wander around the town. After a few minutes of wandering he incidentally ran into Nami,

"Oy Nami what are you doing here?"

Nami looks over and sees Zoro and a girl with dark-blue hair following him, she narrows her eyes.

"Who's that?"

He groans,

"That's Tashigi, she's a Marine and she been following me around to try get me to tell her how I became so strong."

Tashigi decided to perk up in that moment,

"I still don't believe you knocked out Smoker-san, he's a Logia Devil Fruit user you shouldn't be able to touch him at all!"

Nami looks at Zoro with a slightly amused and annoyed face,

"You knocked out a Marine captain and let his subordinate follow you around? If I didn't know better you would be trying to seduce her or something."

Zoro growls at her,

"I can't get rid of her! I already threatened her but she still keeps on following me!"

Nami seeing an opportunity decides to mock him,

"Wow, I guess you're not that big bad demon everyone made you out to be. Like seriously you couldn't even scare away one girl."

He growls at her having enough of his he pushes past her, Nami narrows her eyes at him wondering what seems to be getting him in such a mood. Tashigi sees his anger and decides that maybe the swordsman had enough so she heads back to find the rest of the Marines, unlike her Nami chases after him intent on not letting him do that to her,

"Wait Zoro!"

He ignores her and keeps stomping through the town, she keeps on chasing him but he seems intent in not letting her catch up.

"God damn it Zoro, stop being a child and let me catch up."

Even though she was a few feet away she could hear him growl as if he was right next to her, now she wasn't sure if she wanted to catch up. Pushing that thought aside she continues forward to him, after a minute or so she finally catches up.

"God why do you have to be so irritable."

He still ignores her and continues forward to find a quiet place to rest,

"Stop ignoring me Zoro!"

That finally gets a response from him,

"Can you leave me the fuck alone! Honestly you don't understand when a person want to be alone!"

She quiets down a bit,

"I made a few small comments and you flip out about it, like I thought swordsmen were suppose to have control over their emotions, why don't you."

He snarls at her,

"Well sorry it's not like I have a demon hunting me and who feeds on my negative emotions, no just screw me huh. I don't want to deal with people's crap for just a little while and I'm an asshole for it, god this world is making me want to die at this point!"

She stays silent, cursing herself for forgetting that he had little control over his emotions.

"I'm sorry."

His voice quiets down a bit but doesn't lose the harsh edge to it,

"Can it, I don't care anymore. Just go back to the cook or whatever and have him worship you for a little while to boost your ego back to where it was."

She's taken aback by the amount of anger behind his statement,

"Look I'm sorry, I forgot about your situation and I shouldn't have talked to you like that in the first place. I know it's hard not to feel the way you are right now but could you at least try to reign in your anger a bit."

He stops and spins towards her taking a step forward to really get in her face,

"None of that matters, what matters was that I had trusted you to understand me and this is where my trust led me. I ignored everything bad about you, helped you through your secret and never judged but when I do it you instantly forget about it in a span of a couple of hours. It sure does make it seem like you care."

With that Zoro turns back around and trudges over to an abandoned building and plops himself down by the side of a broken wall with a scowl on his face. This day seemed like the worse one yet and he had no doubt it was not going to get any better, a nap should help him just a bit. But before he could fall asleep he hears footstep approach him, he opens one eye to see who it was. Nami was walking towards him slowly with a regretful look on her face, he scoffs at her before closing his eyes to try rest himself a bit. But with Nami so close to him he check himself ready in case of anything,

_"This mark seems to be screwing up your relationship with your crew a lot."_

He grumbles,

"You're telling me."

But before they could continue Nami finally reaches him and sit down next to him, with his eyes closed he couldn't see it but he could feel her shaking slightly from fear or if she was crying he didn't know. They sit silently for minutes on end before Zoro sighs he had calmed down a bit,

"Look I know some of the things I said was really harsh but I'm sorry, everything's just too hard to control and as hard as I try to once in a while my anger takes control."

Nami curls up to him hugging his arm, in a very soft voice she responds.

"I'm sorry too, you trusted me to understand you but I passed over everything and forgot about it. I shouldn't have done that, I already know that you're not in a good situation and I didn't help it at all and that's my fault."

Finally reconciled they sit silently enjoying each others company before falling asleep.

~A While Later~

Nami awakens to find herself laying on Zoro, quickly sitting up she looks around to see nothing out of the ordinary. She sighs before getting up and stretching, she assumes that they've spent enough time here and should head back to the crew soon. She tries to wake up Zoro, the swordsman groans before turning to the other direction. Sighing she tries again this time with better results as Zoro gets up this time glaring at her,

"What?"

She yawns a bit,

"We should head back to the crew, I think we've spent enough time away."

Zoro silently agrees and pulls himself off the ground and stretching, together they head off to find the ship. While they were walking Zoro speaks,

"Before we head back to the rest of the crew I need your help."

She looks at him curiously,

"Help with what?"

Zoro looks around a bit before resuming in a more hushed tone,

"You know the whole future thing, since I'm from the future I know what will happen already."

"What of it?"

Zoro quiets down even more,

"I know where the rebel army is."

Nami just looks at him oddly,

"Yea we all do, Vivi told us that it's at Yuba."

Zoro corrects her,

"Yea but Vivi hasn't been to Alabasta in a so she didn't know that the rebel army had moved to an oasis near this town Nanohana."

Nami gains a look of realization,

"So what do you need help with?"

Zoro rubs his head,

"Well, I don't want us to waste our time trekking through the desert to Yuba only to find that the rebel army had moved. But I can't think of a way to convince the crew to stay in Nanohana to find the rebel army. So I thought you could help me with that."

She smiles at him,

"You can count on me."

They smile at each other before continuing on their journey back to their ship. After a few minutes they finally see the ship in sight,

"Neh Zoro, Nami where were you guys!"

They see Luffy yelling at them, they climb aboard and Zoro just gives Luffy a simple somewhere. Luffy pouts at this but smiles again dragging Nami to introduce her to his brother. Zoro deciding not to deal with Ace yet moves to the bow and sits down by the railing, hoping to catch a couple minutes of a nap before his confrontation with Ace. Silently letting his mind rest Zoro waits, until he is finally disturbed by someone lightly tapping his leg. He opens his eyes to see Ace,

"We need to talk."

Zoro nods and stand up following him, once they were sure that no one was around to eavesdrop on them Ace speaks.

"How did you know what I was doing?"

Zoro responds,

"I'm not obligated to answer that."

Ace frowns at him,

"What can you tell then?"

Zoro sighs,

"All I can tell you is that if you keep on hunting Blackbeard, you're only going to be digging your own grave. At you current strength there's no way for you to beat him. You don't understand the strength of his Yami Yami no Mi, it isn't just a typical Logia fruit it is immensely powerful."

Ace narrows his eyes,

"How do you that, have you ever fought him?"

Zoro chuckles darkly,

"Something like that, but just listen to me Ace. Drop the hunt how do you think Luffy would react to your death?"

Ace growls,

"That bastard teach isn't going to defeat me."

Having enough Zoro slams Ace into the wall,

"Have you not been listening. I've already said time and time again you can't beat him, not at your current power. You either give up the hunt or find someway to boost your power to an insane level or Teach will completely wipe the floor with you."

With that Zoro lets go of Ace and storms out of the room, sighing to himself.

"Could have dealt with that in a different way but it should still work."

He goes to the side of the boat and peers into the ocean, he was running out of time slowly and here he was worrying about others instead of his own well-being. A damned demon was hunting him and he could only care more about others than himself sighing he calls it a day. He had gained too large of a headache from the events today to function properly.

**That's a wrap next chapter might involve the battle against Crocodile and Baroque Works, which means less angsty internal conflicts and more physical conflicts. I'm going to add in an OC since you know Zoro has already been able to cut through steel at the beginning on this fanfic so Mr. 1 shouldn't be too big of an opponent, though I was always annoyed that Zoro's first bounty came to 60 Million Berries only when Daz Bones bounty was 80 Million. Though I'm still kinda cautious of putting an OC in even though I think it's necessary, the only other way to do this would be to have Zoro defeat Crocodile but that leaves no one for Luffy to fight. Along with that I will be tweaking the bounties a bit just because I can :P. Once again if you're reading and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	15. The Rebel Army

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man. Also if you haven't voted for the poll please do, the poll is on my profile, if no one votes by chapter 15 I'll decide myself.**

Now Zoro wasn't awake for it, but Nami had somehow convinced the rest of the Strawhats and Vivi not to head to Yuba but to stay in Nanohana. Think she said something seeing a group of rebels among the people of Nanohana, can't be sure. Ace had already left to Yuba, not heading Zoro's warnings. With that Zoro has another couple of hours stuck in Nanohana which he did not want, especially since the Marines were still here. Grumbling Zoro continued on his quest to find an isolated spot where he could train in peace, which was proving to be more difficult than he thought it would be. After what felt like an hour of wandering around he finally finds a spot to train, hidden from the town but not far enough to waste anytime travelling between the two spots. Sighing he enters a meditative state,

_"He is getting closer and closer."_

Zoro sighs and lays on the sand,

"Yea I know. Nothing I can do about him getting to me, the only thing I can do is prepare myself for our inevitable conflict."

_"Hmm too bad, I was starting to like you."_

Zoro grumbles,

"Don't make it sound like I have no chance of surviving this."

_"I'm not making it sound like you have no chance of surviving this, I know you have close to no chance of surviving this."_

Zoro tunes him out to return to his meditation, he hasn't had the time to work on his Armament Haki but it's already progressed a lot further than he had thought it would. His whole upper body could be coated in Haki if he was completely focused on it, while not focused his Haki would at least cover both of his arms and his blades along with bits of his shoulder and neck. But he was up against a demon not a Logia so he wasn't sure how this would turn out, but he knew that Haki wouldn't help him that much in this situation. While he was thinking he didn't notice that Chopper had followed him here, the little doctor intent on keeping an eye on Zoro.

"Zoro!"

Zoro turns around to see Chopper,

"What?"

Walking up to him slightly nervous before steeling himself,

"I just wanted to check on you."

Zoro nods before resuming his meditative state thinking that the doctor would leave him alone, but Chopper had decided not to leave but to sit down next to Zoro. He could hear Chopper complaining about the heat under his breath. Chuckling to himself Zoro decides that meditating wouldn't help him here, he stands up and stretches a bit. Chopper looks at him,

"What are you doing?"

"Training."

He takes out Sandai Kitetsu, trying to get a feel for the demon blood within the blade. Minutes pass until he finally feels something, he grins and unsheathes his remaining blades.

"Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

Chopper watches in awe and horror as Zoro gains two more heads and four more limbs,

"AHH Zoro what's happening!"

Zoro flexes his arms and cranes his necks before turning towards Chopper grinning,

"It worked."

Chopper could only look at Zoro oddly and in a bit of fear,

"What?!"

Zoro turns away from Chopper and readies himself,

"Ashura: Ichibugin!"

Without a target he couldn't really test out just how powerful the strike was but he was still happy with it, but he had to wonder how would Ashura Hakai work with Kyutoryu.

_"You've only tried it with Ittoryu and Nitoryu, but all you should know is that you can't use Ashura Hakai in this form. You'd have to use a variant of it, but you can use Ashura no Kohai in this form."_

Slightly disappointed but not deterred,

"Then whats the variant of Ashura Hakai that I could use in this form?"

_"It is called Ashura Hakai: Ajimasuburesu."_

Zoro pauses,

"Azimuths Breath?"

He hears Ashura grumble,

_"Don't ask about the name."_

Zoro grins to himself,

"So how do I do it?"

_"The blades within your mouth don't move but the ones in your hand do. You hold two of the blades in a reverse grip, another two will be above your head like horns, the last two will be pointed forward like a drill."_

Zoro gets into the stance with his nine blades,

"Ok, now what?"

_"Would work better if you had a target, how bout the reindeer?"_

Zoro instantly shuts down the idea,

_"Tch kill-joy, but moving on once you are within range of your target the two blades you're holding above your head will slash down into the target, you're blades in reversed grips will slash along the torso twice and the two blades in the front will pierce the target before ripping them apart you pull them to the sides tearing their body asunder."_

Zoro whistles,

"Brutal."

He couldn't see it but he could feel the look of pride on Ashura's face,

"Yea too bad we don't have a target, but I'll have to work with what I have."

Even he wanted to try the move out he couldn't cause as he said that his Ashura form dissipated, and he collapsed backward. Chopper races over to him,

"You exhausted yourself."

Zoro groans,

"Yea I know."

He could hear Ashura laughing his ass off, he grumbles at the god before trying to sit up.

"Zoro."

He looks at Chopper,

"Yea?"

Chopper hesitates a bit but still moves forward,

"What was that?"

He takes his hand and rubs Chopper's head,

"Don't worry about it."

Chopper looked like he wanted to argue but Zoro wouldn't let him, as he shakily stood up and started heading to the town. Chopper silently follows him, Zoro searches for the bar where he found Luffy yesterday. He walks in to see the rest of the crew there,

"Yo."

The crew looks at him, Luffy's grins through his food.

"Zoro!"

Nami looks at him oddly,

"Where were you and what happened to you? You looking exhausted."

Chopper decides to respond,

"He was training! It was scary!"

They all look at Chopper,

"Scary? Why was it scary?"

Chopper opens his mouth to speak but Zoro covers his mouth,

"Lets not."

Chopper nods and the two of them move to find a seat, though what Chopper said was still on their minds.

"Why would Zoro training be scary?"

Nobody knew the answer except the two people who were walking around looking for a chair. Zoro and Chopper return with only one chair in which Zoro proceeds to sit in and put Chopper atop his head, shaking herself from the adorable sight Nami starts talking about what to do. They would head towards the rebel army base near the Nanohana Oasis and let Vivi try convince them not to fight the Royal Army. The crew all agree and continue to eat their food before their interrupted by Smoker and the Marines, they all ready themselves for a fight.

"Don't get all riled up I'm not here to fight."

They look at him oddly, a Marine Captain was in front of them and said he wasn't here for a fight?

"Why?"

Zoro grins when he hears Smoker mumble,

"I can't defeat you guys, so I'm not stupid enough to try fight you guys."

The crew all smile and sigh in relief,

"I don't like it but there's nothing I can really do about it."

Smoker sits down by the bar and orders some food, while the crew knew Smoker wasn't going to fight them. They weren't going to push their luck, they quickly finish their food and head back to their ship so that they could head to the Nanohana Oasis. After a few hours they reached the Oasis and started searching for the rebel armies headquarters, though their search is fruitless as they didn't think about how difficult it would be to find a HIDDEN base. The Strawhats all return to their ship after hours of searching, they were all exhausted and disappointed that they didn't find the rebel army. After eating the rest of the Strawhats call it a day and succumb to sleep, the only ones remaining were Sanji, Zoro and Nami. Nami was working on her map, Sanji was cleaning up the kitchen and Zoro was keeping watch. After an hour or so Zoro notices that they too had gone to sleep, he sighs and leans back on the railing taking in the sight of the stars. This was a rare moment of peace and he wasn't going to squander it, but that moment had only lasted a few minutes. As while he was enjoying it he hears a sounds and men talking, grumbling he uses his Observation Haki to find out who it is. To his luck it wasn't anyone from Baroque Works, it was men from the rebel army. He stands up to go greet the men,

"Hey quiet down a bit will you, my crews sleeping and I don't think they will enjoy being awakened."

The men look up to see Zoro sitting on the railing looking at them, they all jump back and pull their weapons out. They are about to yell at him but are silenced by a blade to their throats,

"I know who you guys are, and we're here to help you. But just don't be too loud I don't want you guys to wake up the rest of my crew."

The men all nod knowing that they don't really have an option here, Zoro sheathes his blades and help them up onto the ship. After a few moments the men finally speak,

"How did you know who we are and what do you mean you're here to help us?"

Zoro takes some sake out and drinks it before responding,

"We're the Strawhat Pirates and for the past week or so we've been transporting Princess Vivi Nefertari back to Alabasta."

The men are about to yell in shock but are silenced by a glare from Zoro, they calm themselves before speaking in a much quieter voice.

"Princess Nefertari, you're joking. She's been missing for so long, where has she been?"

Zoro sighs,

"She infiltrated a criminal organization to try find out who was the mastermind behind the conflicts here in Alabasta."

They all look at Zoro in shock,

"S-someone is masterminding these conflict? Who is it?"

Zoro looks around,

"I think it would be better of we told you guys when we reach your headquarters, don't want to be talking about this out in the open."

They nod at him,

"Just come here at nine in the morning tomorrow, then we'll all head out to discuss this."

The men looks at each other before agreeing, they bid farewell to Zoro before heading back to their headquarters. Zoro grins to himself before leaning back on the railing preparing himself for a night of restlessness and cold weather.

~The Next Morning~

The Strawhats are all awake except for Zoro who was finally getting rest, they were about to set out in search of the rebel army base before Zoro stop them.

"There's no need to look for the rebel base."

Vivi spins around towards him,

"Why?"

Zoro grins,

"A couple of rebels were about to search around our ship last night when I confronted them. I told them to be here at nine so that we could talk to them, so they should be here soon."

Vivi was relieved that they didn't have to spend another exhausting day in the sun,

"Thank you ."

Zoro is already asleep when she says that, she just giggles at his antics before heading back to the girl's quarters so she could relax a bit. While the rest of the Strawhats disperse so to do their own thing until the rebels come for them, after an hour or so they arrived. The men call out for Zoro,

"Mr. Swordsman! We're here now!"

The crew gathers to see a group of four men with a carriage, Nami looks at them suspiciously.

"So you guys are rebels? You don't really look the part."

The man in the back calls out,

"Yea we're rebels don't insult us lady!"

She was about to continue but a groan of annoyance from Zoro tells her that he doesn't to listen to them banter, fair enough though as he had to stay up and keep watch all-night.

"Well let's go then."

With that the Strawhats along with Vivi and Karoo follow the rebels back to their base. Once they arrived they're met with an army of rebels training in a field, most of the Strawhats watch in awe at the massive amount of rebels there was. They quickly move into the base and the four men knock on a giant wooden door, someone inside tells them to enter. Once the Strawhats enter they see a with light-brown hair sitting at the end of a long table and many other men sitting to the sides of the table. Zoro recognizes the man at the end but no one else, but Vivi cries out.

"Koza!"

Koza looks at them in bewilderment and suspicion,

"Vivi?"

They watch as the two friends embrace each other,

"Where have you been Vivi?"

He turns towards the other men in the room and tells them to leave him alone, they comply and they all quickly leave the room. When their finally gone Vivi recounts everything that had happened,

"So you infiltrated a criminal organization?"

Vivi grins at him,

"Yea!"

Koza sighs,

"You were always a bit crazy, but I think we should get down to business."

Everyone starts to pay attention to him,

"My men found these pirates ship yesterday and I sent a group of four men to check on who was on the ship. Imagine my surprise when they came back to tell me not only had they not searched the ship due to a man with green hair stopping them. But that Princess Vivi was on the ship, but that still begs the question how did you know who we were and how can you help us."

With that some of the Strawhats spare a glance at Zoro but Vivi was the one that spoke,

"You knew who they were ? You seem to know a lot, how did you come to not only acquire information about the rebel army but abut me being Miss Wednesday?"

Zoro takes one of the seats before talking,

"Everyone's entitled to their secrets, I see no need to tell you."

Vivi and most of the Strawhats wanted to pry but knew that the swordsman would most likely not budge, so they return to the conversation with Koza.

"We know that it isn't Vivi's father who at fault here."

Koza looks at them cautiously,

"Then who's fault is it?"

Vivi answers,

"It's the hero of Alabasta, Crocodile! He's the one that set everything up and framed my father!"

Koza slowly digest this information,

"So Crocodile's the one at fault here, not your father?"

They nod their heads at him, Koza takes a seat and sighs.

"Well even if I tell the troops this what am I suppose to do about it? We can't defeat Crocodile, not only is he the hero of Alabasta but he's also incredibly powerful."

Vivi smiles at him,

"Well that where theses people come in, these are the Strawhat Pirates and I can attest that they are powerful allies. With their help we could defeat Crocodile!"

Koza sighs,

"We've seen Crocodile take out many rookie pirates before and even some veteran ones, what chance do they have when most of the pirates we see him fight can't even touch him?"

Nami perks up at this,

"Is he a Logia?"

Koza looks at her tiredly,

"Yea, that's why he's impossible to defeat."

Nami grins at her,

"Well, we happen to have someone in our crew that not only defeated a Logia. But that Logia was also a Marine Captain and he took him out in a single shot."

Zoro grumbles at this, Nami was using him to try win them over and possible get more money at it. But Koza was shocked at this,

"Who could defeat a Logia?"

Nami points towards Zoro, who simple grumbles before returning to his nap. Koza still wrapping himself around the idea,

"I-if he could defeat a Logia than it should work perfectly, once you defeat Crocodile and reveal him as the person that had orchestrated this entire thing."

Vivi nods happily and turns towards the Strawhats,

"I'm pretty sure we still have to deal with Baroque Works."

The crew gave off varying reactions but were all determined to help their friend. But the one person that stood out the most was Luffy he had walked over to Zoro and shook him awake, Zoro glares at Luffy.

"What?"

Luffy grins,

"Neh Zoro can I fight Crocodile?

Zoro grunts out,

"Sure."

The crew is silent for a moment before exploding,

"Why would you let him fight Crocodile!"

"If you can defeat him why let Luffy fight him!"

"Why are you guys such idiots!"

"Take this seriously guys we could actually die!"

Zoro ignores them an returns to his nap while Luffy is happily bouncing around the room. Koza chuckles at them,

"An odd group aren't you."

Nami groans,

"You have no idea."

She sighs before becoming serious,

"Where do you think we would find Crocodile?"

Koza thinks for a moment,

"I think his main base is in Rainbase, but I would suggest that we head to the capital of Alabasta. We should just wait for him there, he will eventually appear."

Nami nods at this and goes to make sure that Luffy doesn't do anything stupid once he ran out of the room. Most the Strawhats follow the only ones still remaining are Zoro who was taking a nap and Chopper who was watching over him. Koza goes to talk to Chopper,

"Is he really that strong?"

Chopper looks up at him,

"Yea, I watched him train once and it was scary. He grew two more heads and four more arms, when he would swing the swords the desert sand around him was always compete displaced."

Koza could only wonder if the reindeer-creature was crazy but the look on his face told him that not only was he sane but he wasn't lying, while he walked away he could only wonder.

"What kind of monster is that man?"

~A Few Hours Later~

"You guys got everything you need?"

They nod at him,

"Watch over our ship will you."

Koza smiles at them,

"If you save this country you won't have to worry about your ship at all."

After that goodbye they set off to Alubarna, while walking there Zoro is left to his own thoughts. His time is getting closer and closer, he looks at the crew and gives them a sad smile. He feels someone grab his shoulder, he turns around to see Sanji.

"Huh?"

Sanji smiles at him,

"Don't worry man, we're not gonna to let you die."

Zoro wanted so much to believe him, but he knew there wasn't much they could do for him either. But he wasn't going to let his probable fate tear down the mood of the rest of the crew, so he puts up a strained smile and looks back at Sanji.

"Yea I know you guys will help me."

If Sanji believed the smile on his face or not he wouldn't know as he focused back on the journey ahead of him. He distances himself from the rest of the crew to talk to Ashura,

"Ashura."

_"Yes Roronoa?"_

"Would Ajimasuburesu work outside of my Ashura form?"

Ashura takes a moment before answering,

_"Don't think so."_

"Think?"

He hears Ashura huff,

_"I've never used it with any less than 9 swords so I wouldn't know."_

Zoro sighs,

"Fair enough."

It would take a few moments before Ashura speaks again,

_"Now all you have to do is add the Demon Flame onto your blades whenever you strike someone, then you shall be worthy of being a true demon."_

Zoro grumbles,

"Isn't your creation, a demon hunting me and hoping to kill me."

He hears Ashura cough in embarrassment,

"Thought so."

Sighing Zoro looks over at the crew to see that they hadn't noticed him slowly slinking away from them,

_"There are still a few more moves I would like to teach you."_

Zoro chuckles darkly,

"Let's hope I have enough time to fully master them."

He hears Ashura sigh,

_"Just remember the name of the next one I will teach you, Raguna Shometsu."_

"You really like flashy names for your moves don't you."

He hears Ashura grumble before he leaves, Zoro laughs a bit. The crew finally take notice to Zoro who wasn't within the group but to the side alone, Luffy calls out to him.

"Neh Zoro why are you so far away."

Zoro smiles at him,

"I needed a moment alone."

Luffy and Chopper just smile at him happily, while the rest of them give Zoro a worried look. After a few more minutes of walking Nami slowly slips away to Zoro,

"Are you alright?"

Zoro doesn't look at her but sighs,

"I'm fine."

She didn't believe him for a second,

"Come on we've been through this before, we can't help if you don't tell us what's wrong."

Zoro tiredly rubs his face,

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't be able to help me."

She quiets down,

"Why?"

He looks at her exhausted,

"The demon is coming, from what Ashura told me he should arrive in about a week after we defeat Crocodile."

She hesitates a bit,

"So your time is coming and you're just exhausted with everything?"

He chuckles,

"Spot on."

She puts a hand on his shoulder,

"Don't worry we're going to be there to help you."

He tries to smile but he can't,

"You guys keep on saying that but I doubt you could help me."

She wants to argue but knows that against a powerful demon there was little chance of them defeating him,

"Well you can't just give up."

He sighs,

"I'm not, I just know my limits and the possibility of me beating him are slim."

She sighs,

"Just try not to worry about it, we'll find a way to help you."

He mumbles,

"I sure hope you guys find a way, cause I'm up against the wall on this situation."

After that he silently walk for the rest of the trip.

~At Alubarna~

"We've arrived!"

Luffy, Chopper and Usopp were celebrating after their couple hour trek to Alubarna. Though the others weren't as vocal about it, they too were happy to be out of the desert. But yet again guards are instantly upon them,

"Halt, strangers. State your name and the reason you are here."

Vivi answers for them,

"I am Princess Nefertari and these are pirates I have requested to help with the civil war."

The guards are visibly shocked as they see their missing princess,

"Call King Cobra!"

A few of the guards start running towards the palace while the rest move closer to see if it was actually Vivi. After confirming that it was her they bow to her before her but still keep a watchful eye on the Strawhats. After a few moments King Cobra appears,

"Vivi!"

Vivi smiles,

"Daddy!"

They embrace,

"Where have you been."

She whispers in his ear,

"I'll tell you later in private."

He nods at her before turning tot eh Strawhats,

"And who might they be?"

Before Vivi could answer Luffy speaks up,

"We're Pirates!"

With that the guards around them ready their weapons, but Vivi stops them.

"Stop, their with me!"

The reluctantly lower their weapons, Cobra looks at her oddly.

"Why are you traveling with pirates?"

She sighs,

"Lets head to the palace, I don't think everyone should listen to this conversation."

He agrees and they all head to the palace, once within a secure room he tell Vivi to explain.

"I infiltrated a criminal organization called Baroque Works, once inside I had discovered that they were working to destroy our kingdom of Alabasta."

Cobra looks at her in shock,

"Why would they do this and who is the mastermind to this devious plot!"

She sighs,

"I do not know why they would do this but who I do know. The mastermind behind this is the hero of Alabasta Sir Crocodile."

Cobra pales at this,

"He's the one behind this, now not only do I have to deal with the rebel army I have to deal with a very powerful man. This is proving to be a disastrous situation."

Finally Vivi smiles,

"That's why I brought help, these are the Strawhat Pirates and they have promised to help us."

Cobra looks them over suspiciously,

"Why would they help us and what help could they bring? We have already seen Sir Crocodile crush many rookie pirates what makes them different?"

Nami frowns at this,

"We have three powerful people within our crew, that's the help you will get."

Vivi decides to add in,

"We have also visited the rebels and we have also had them agree to a surrender of sorts."

With that King Cobra sighs in relief,

"So we only have to deal with Sir Crocodile?"

"And his organization Baroque Works, which number about two thousand people. Some of which are extremely powerful."

Cobra sighs,

"At least the odds are better now that we don't have to deal with the rebel army. But how are they going to defeat Crocodile? We have seen him fight before almost nobody has ever even touched him, how are they going to beat him."

Vivi smiles at this and points at Zoro,

"That man has defeated a Marine Captain that possessed abilities similar to Crocodile, not just defeating him in a drawn-out battle but with a single strike!"

Cobra looks at the green swordsman in shock,

"So there is hope."

Zoro smiles at him,

"Yea there is."

Cobra starts laughing,

"Well, now then don't just stand there. I'm going to give you people a full Alabastian welcome!"

The crew hearing this grows excited, a big welcome usually had food, booze and girls. After a bit of partying they finally settle down a bit, Zoro decides to sleep. Knowing that the impending battle for him at least will not be difficult, but he had a sense of dread that something will go wrong.

_"It seems some of his followers have awakened and are hoping to defeat you and serve your body to him as an offering."_

Zoro groans,

"Seriously, don't I already have enough to deal with."

_"You seem to have incredible luck sometimes and other times atrocious luck, not only has one of his followers awakened. It is his most devoted follower too, Eukithor."_

Zoro groans,

"How many followers does he even have?"

_"I would estimate about a hundred to two hundred thousand."_

He pales at this,

"If I survive will I have to deal with them?"

He hears Ashura chuckle,

_"Most likely."_

Zoro groans even more,

"Now dying is starting to sound more and more like a good idea."

He could feel Ashura smirking at him,

_"Go ahead."_

Growling he takes another swig of his sake before a voice invades his mind, it sounded deranged.

_"I can feel my masters mark on you mortal! HAHAHAHA, beware mortal for I, Eukithor the Mad shall bear your body to my master!"_

Zoro groans,

"What is with you fucking demons and invading my head."

He receives no response which he is thankful for, he stares off into the night sky.

"Better enjoy this day, don't think I'm getting any peace after tonight."

He laughs at his own misfortune before heading back inside to join the party.

**That's a wrap this chapter wasn't really that important. Just in introduction to a few new moves, changing the story a bit to fit the ideas I have. Finally the introduction to the first OC, Eukithor the Mad! Obviously Zoro is going to fight him soon after his quick victory over Mr. 1, the only other option to some tension would be to have Zoro fight Crocodile and I didn't want to take away from Luffy's villains too much so I probably won't do that. Probably being the keyword, because I will take away Luffy's villains sometimes for Zoro. Though it won't be too frequent, so this is the 15th chapter and since only three of you guys had voted for the ship, which I am kind of disappointed about. The ship has been decided and I'll be working to put that into the story. One last thing before I end I know that I had kept the whole mark thing inconsistent throughout the story and I'm sorry, but I couldn't find a way to balance properly lest it become a complete angst show or forgetting about it completely. So I instead put it in sometimes and forget about it the other times. Once again if you're reading this and like it thanks for reading.**


	16. War Torn Alubarna Begins and Ends

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

They were waiting silently for Crocodile and the members of Baroque Works to arrive, Nami, Usopp and Chopper were nervous for the impending fight. They would have focused on preparing for the incoming battle, but no one could focus with Zoro snoring. Finally having enough Nami storms over to his sleeping body and punches him over the head. Zoro jolts awake,

"What the hell!"

She growls at him,

"Some of us our nervous about the battle that is going to start soon and here you are snoring away!"

He grumbles but doesn't return to sleep, knowing that the others were not completely confident in their abilities. He stands up and stretches, he knew he shouldn't be relaxed either. Eukithor the Mad was coming for him, Ashura said he was the most powerful follower of the Demon of the Core. He was not sure just how powerful that was but he needs to be prepared for whatever he throws at him. He walks towards the door to leave the palace, Nami questions him.

"Where are you going?"

He yawns,

"Gonna meet them out there, don't want to damage the palace now do we."

With that he leaves,

"Hey Ashura, can you give me any hints on the abilities of Eukithor?"

_"Now where's the fun in that?"_

Zoro growls at him,

"I'm not joking around, if you can help me do it. If you can't then leave."

He hears Ashura growl in his head,

_"I have no need to listen to you Roronoa, I am a god I can make your life a living hell if I wish to!"_

Zoro rolls his eyes,

"Going to help me or not?"

Ashura grumbles at him,

_"Eukithor is a master of the Demon Flame, he was so adept at it that he had pushed it to another level. His flame is no longer the Soul-Devouring Flame, it has transcended that to become the Desolate Flame. It will destroy anything that contains flesh it comes in contact with, my warning don't let the flames touch you at all. Coating yourself in Haki would help but the damage that the flame does will still tear at you."_

The Absolute Flame? That was the next level of the Soul-Devouring Flame? Zoro was about to ask Ashura but it seems that he had read his mind,

_"There are many levels to the Soul-Devouring Flame, he is the only minor demon to ever reach the level of the Desolate Flame."_

Zoro narrows his eyes,

"How many levels of the Soul-Devouring Flames are there?"

Ashura hesitates a bit,

_"There are four levels of the Soul-Devouring Flames from the base form. The one above the base flame is the Desolate Flame, then the one above that is the Absolute Flame. No minor demon has ever manifested the Absolute Flame, after that level there is the Purgatory Flames almost no demon has ever manifested this flame. The only ones that I have are the twenty-four demon berserkers. The last flame is the Void Flame, only two demons have ever manifested this flame, The Demon of the Core and me."_

Zoro sighs, he already knew that his opponent was strong but to have access to the strongest form of the Soul-Devouring Flame was not calming his nerves.

"Besides his mastery of the Soul-Devouring Flame, is there anything else special about him?"

Ashura thinks for a moment before he answers,

_"Besides his mastery of the Soul-Devouring Flame the only thing special is his insane speed and strength, along with that a little note. He has no sense of self-preservation, so once you strike him get out fast or he'll keep ongoing through your blade to get to you."_

Zoro groans, not only was he powerful. He was also something that didn't care for his own health and rather would run at his goal no matter what. He's shaken from his thoughts when he smells a strong scent of blood, following the smell he comes across a mountain of royal guard bodies. Zoro grins knowing that Baroque Works was already here, the problem was that he still had no idea where in the city they were. His grin widens when he hears yelling from a different section of the city, he chases after the sound hoping to catch the member of Baroque Works before he finished the guards and moves on. He arrives to see the man finish off the last guard,

"Now, now don't just go around bullying the weak."

Mr. 1 twist his head towards Zoro who was emerging from an alley,

"You're one of the Strawhats."

Zoro grins and unsheathes Sandai Kitetsu,

"Yep, and you're an easy target."

Mr. 1 scoffs at him,

"You are not strong enough to defeat me pirate, I ate the Supa Supa no Mi. I can turn any part of my body into steel blades, unless you can cut through steel you will not be able to defeat me."

Mr. 1 activates his devil fruit just to show him, Zoro gains a demonic grin that unnerves Mr. 1.

"Well, lucky me. I have been able to cut through steel for a while."

Mr. 1 didn't know whether or not to believe him, but he knew that this was no simple opponent. He would have to be cautious,

"Enough talk let us fight pirate."

Zoro cracks his neck,

"Thought you would never ask."

At that they rush towards each other clashing blades, Zoro was toying with him. He was only using one blade and was barely using any of his full strength, this would serve as a warm-up for his fight with Eukithor. But even then Mr. 1 was out to kill him, so he must not lower his guard. But he had remembered Mr. 1 being stronger than this and he was being thoroughly disappointed,

"I would have thought you would be stronger."

Mr. 1 frowns at him,

"You have yet to defeat me, so I would say that I am powerful enough to defeat you."

Zoro chuckles,

"Well I've been toying with you, I'm using you as a warm-up for the true fight I will have today."

Mr. 1 narrows his eyes,

"You're going to fight Crocodile? I thought your captain was going to fight him."

Zoro yawns,

"Nope, I'm going to have to fight someone much stronger than Crocodile."

Mr. 1 narrows his eyes in confusion and curiosity,

"Ohh then who would that be?"

Zoro grins,

"A demon named Eukithor."

Mr. 1 scoffs,

"You're insane."

Zoro laughs at him,

"Well then you're about to be beaten by an insane man."

Mr. 1 was about to scoff at him but Zoro disappears from his sight, he darts his eyes to find him. He never does find him as a moment after Zoro disappears a searing pain overloads his senses. He slowly looks down to see a cut stretched across his torso, before he collapses and falls unconscious he sees Zoro grinning at him.

"Curse you Demon Wind."

Zoro sighs and heads back to the palace so to wait for the demon to arrive, but a voice interrupts him.

_"My, my, my aren't you powerful."_

Zoro snaps his head to the direction of the voice,

"Are you Eukithor?"

The demon emerges,

_"Hahaha yes I am mortal! Nice of you to learn the name of the man that will defeat you today!"_

Zoro slowly backs away so to space himself from the demon before their battle but in a flash the demon appears before him,

_"Don't run mortal, you can't outrun me! I will torment you until my master arrives, ohh just the thought of what I will do is causing me such joy!"_

He slams into Zoro sending him flying into the building behind him, Zoro groans in pain.

"This is getting difficult already, Ashura wasn't joking when he said he was insanely strong and fast."

He ties his bandanna around his head and unsheathes all three of his swords, and readies himself to fight him. But he sees the demon slowly approaching him, the demons arm was completely covered in a purple flame.

"So that's the Desolate Flame."

Eukithor laughs,

_"YES MORTAL! Hahaha this flame with be what I use to torment you after I beat you!"_

Zoro grumbles, the demon won't stop yelling and it was getting annoying.

He charges forward,

"Ittoryu lai: Shishi Sonson!"

The demon disappears before the strike could connect, if this was his speed this was not going to be an easy battle.

_"Not fast enough mortal!"_

He could hear the demon giggling around him, he would have to get the demons legs or else he wouldn't be able to keep up with it. Focusing his Observation Haki he finally sees Eukithor, he was racing around him. This might even be the demons fastest speed but he would have to try to get rid of it's legs now so that it couldn't reach it's top speed. Timing would be everything, he readies blades for the right moment. He waits for it before he finally sees an opportunity,

"Ashura no Kohai!"

He brings his blades down to rupture the ground, now with the demons footing slightly displaced he charges at the surprised demon,

"Ashura Hakai!"

Even without proper footing the demon was fast, he had almost completely avoided the strike. All Zoro had managed was a shallow cut into the demons right calf and thigh, the demon stops for a moment to look at his wounds.

_"Hahaha you're a crafty little shit, you actually managed to touch me! I'm going to make your life a living hell for that!"_

Zoro grumbles,

"You talk too much."

The Eukithor growls at Zoro before disappearing once again, beating this demon was not going to be an easy task. Strike after the strike the demon attacks him, some he would be able to read some he wouldn't be able to. Eukithor was moving too fast for Zoro to give a proper counter-attack,

_"You're a weak little human! Why would my master ever choose you as his vessel? I would have worked much better as a vessel compared to you!"_

The demons patience was wearing thin and Zoro was able to read his moves more and more due to his impatience,

"I never asked to be his vessel."

The demon stops his assault and hopes back,

_"Then let me be the vessel for my master!"_

Zoro scoffs,

"I would love to but I don't think I really have a choice in this matter."

The demons right arm turns a darker shade of purple,

_"THEN DIE!"_

The burst of speed that he displayed was too much for Zoro and he wasn't able to properly block or dodge the strike, the strike pierces through his gut.

"Fucking bastard!"

The demon laughs at him,

_"HAHAHAHA you are pitiful!"_

Zoro knew that he wasn't going to last much longer, he readies himself ignoring the burning pain within his gut.

"Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

The demon watches curiously as Zoro gains two more heads and four more arms,

_"Having more limbs won't help you here mortal! You are already at death's door, just succumb to your death."_

Zoro grumbles through his pain,

"Shut the hell up."

The enrages the demon, who charges straight at Zoro. He had anticipated this,

"I really hope this works."

He gets into a stance that Eukithor hasn't seen him use before, but he disregards this as he aims for Zoro's heart.

_"Kuki Furea!"_

"Ashura Hakai: Ajimasuburesu!"

The strikes meet and the winner is obvious, Zoro is still stuck but Eukithor's strike but he would survive. On the other hand Eukithor's body was torn apart by Zoro's strike. It was impressive that Eukithor didn't instantly die after injuries like that, Zoro slowly trudged towards him.

"Who's weak now."

Eukithor growls at him,

_"You won't get away with this my master will avenge me!"_

Chuckling Zoro dissipates his Ashura form and cuts Eukithor's head apart,

"I highly doubt he would avenge such a pathetic demon."

Eukithor could no longer respond as his body phases through the ground,

"Why did it just do that?"

_"We demons can never truly die unless we are destroyed by the Void Flame, so once we are defeated our bodies are transported back to hell."_

Zoro grumbles,

"So he'll eventually come back for me?"

Ashura chuckles,

_"Most likely."_

Zoro sighs before trying to make his way back to the palace, progress is slow but after a while he eventually reaches the palace. The enters to see almost nobody was here,

"Guess everyone's already in their own fights."

With that thought he finds a nice and quiet spot to take a nap so to recover from his injuries, he is undisturbed until he hears clashing blades and a smug Shichibukai outside. Grumbling he stands up and walks over to the door to watch the commotion, he looks out to see Luffy trying to fight Crocodile. Unsuccessfully at that too, Luffy didn't have access to Haki yet and is still unaware of the Suna Suna no Mi's weakness. Not wanting to take away from Luffy's battle he yells at Luffy,

"LUFFY! USE WATER IT'LL LET YOU HIT HIM!"

Both Luffy and Crocodile turn towards the bloodied Zoro who was watching them, Luffy grins at him.

"Thanks Zoro!"

Seeing his job done Zoro heads back into the palace to resume his nap, but is interrupted when a Nami walks towards him and smacks him over the head.

"The hell!"

She huffs at him,

"Where were you?"

He growls at her,

"I defeated Mr. 1 and a demon then came back here to try take a nap which everyone seems to like interrupting."

She looks at him questioningly,

"A demon?"

He sighs,

"I'll explain later, but it wasn't the one that's suppose to kill me in a week or so."

She grumbles,

"Well we have a few problems to sort out."

He looks at her,

"Problems?"

She nods,

"Yea Apparently Crocodile planted a bomb that will destroy everything within a 2.5 mile radius."

She sees Zoro pause for a second before cursing,

"Shit, I forgot about it!"

"Well do you know where it is?"

He shakily stands up,

"Yea, it's in the clock tower, not only that Crocodile also has agents guarding the bomb."

She looks at him oddly,

"Then wouldn't they also die?"

Zoro growls,

"You think he cares about them."

Nami doesn't respond,

"No matter is everyone done with their battles?"

"They should be, I saw Chopper and Usopp return but I haven't seen Sanji yet."

Zoro grumbles,

"Forget about him for now, we have to head to the clock tower and stop the bomb, you know where the Alabastian warrior Pell is?"

Nami thinks for a moment,

"Yea I think I saw him a while ago why?"

Coughing up a bit of blood Zoro responds,

"He has a Devil Fruit that allows him to change into a falcon, we're going to have him carrying the bomb as far away as possible."

She nods at him before they both race out of the palace to find Pell, they find him slaughtering many Baroque Works members. Zoro calls out to him,

"Pell!"

He spares him a glance,

"Demon Wind, what do you want?"

Zoro joins in to help him and to speak to Pell,

"There's a bomb with a 2.5 mile radius in the clock tower, it's set to blow any minute. We need you to grab the bomb and get it as far away as possible."

Pell looks at him in shock,

"How do you know this?"

Zoro came up with a lie pretty quickly,

"Crocodile in his arrogance told Luffy and I was watching them fight."

Pell nods at him,

"Also be careful there are two members of Baroque Works inside the tower guarding the bomb."

Pell looks at him oddly, Zoro knew what he was going to ask.

"Yea, Crocodile doesn't care about any of his subordinates."

Pell gains a look of disgust before changing and flying off to the tower, Zoro cuts down the remaining Baroque Works members and heads back tot he palace where he sees that Luffy and Crocodile are both gone. Exhausted he collapses on the floor and watches as Pell fly's away with the bomb. Sighing he decides to take lay there silently and wait for the bomb to explode, a few moments pass before the bomb explodes. Zoro watches in awe at the destruction the bomb creates,

"Crocodile's one crazy bastard."

"You don't say."

Zoro snaps his head towards the voice and his hand drops to his swords, he sees that it was King Cobra that looked a bit worse for wear. He snorts,

"What happened to you?"

Cobra chuckles,

"Crocodile, how bout you."

Zoro looks at him,

"Mr. 1 and a demon."

If he was surprised by the demon part he didn't show it as he chuckled at Zoro,

"Sake?"

Zoro grins,

"I wouldn't mind."

They both silently drink the sake and wait for everyone to return, first was Pell and Chaka who rushed to King Cobra to check on his condition. Then there was the royal army who were all exhausted and lastly were the Strawhats along with Vivi. The battle was won, they could relax now. Everyone was being tended to by the many doctors and Chopper, Zoro slowly walks over to Luffy who was unconscious. He sits by him,

"One week, that's all I have left. Let's spend a bit of time in Alabasta, don't want him to arrive while we're in Skypeia."

He knew that Luffy wouldn't hear him but just saying those words gave a sense of sad relief, with that Zoro stands up and tries to walk only to collapse a few steps away from Luffy falling unconscious.

~A Day Later~

Zoro lays there awake, he cranes his neck up and look at his surroundings. He was in an unfamiliar room and he wasn't sure how to feel about it, turning a bit more he sees the other Strawhats sleeping around him. At that he sighs in relief,

"You're awake Mr. Bushido."

Zoro doesn't look at her,

"Yea."

She walks over to him, she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Thank you guys for everything, if you guys weren't here I don't think Alubarna would even be standing right now."

Chuckling Zoro strains himself to sit up,

"Don't worry about it, Captain already said we're friends and friends always help each other."

Vivi hugs him before separating herself from him, she pushes Zoro back down from his sitting position.

"You have a hole in your gut I don't think you should be moving at all."

Zoro grumbles,

"I'm fine don't worry about it."

She puts pressure on his wound and he cries out,

"Itai, itai, itai. Ok I get it."

She giggles at him,

"Just get some rest."

He huffs at her before turning himself so to be in a more comfortable position to sleep. He sleeps for a few more hours before he's awakened by the other Strawhats yelling, he grumbles and sits up to see what they were yelling about. He watches as Chopper frets about Luffy's condition, Sanji flirt with Vivi, Usopp praising himself and Nami asking Vivi for the one billion berries that she was apparently promised. At that Zoro laughs, they all turn towards him. They all simultaneously cry out and jump him

"ZORO!"

"Itai, I'm still injured you know!"

They sheepishly let go of him,

"We just didn't know when you would wake up or if you would at all, for gods sake you had a hole in your gut and you were completely covered in wounds!"

He grumbles a bit,

"I'm fine, not gonna die from this."

They all celebrate a bit before returning to what they had previously been doing, with that Zoro shakily stands up and heads for the door. Chopper watches him,

"Where are you going?"

He grunts out,

"Training."

With that Chopper grows an angry look and chases after him,

"Don't you idiot, you've barely healed! You shouldn't be training for a very long time!"

Zoro was trying to shake Chopper off his leg,

"I'm fine god dammit!"

Finally having enough Nami walks over to him and smacks him over the head,

"Stay in the bed you dumb swordsman!"

Zoro growls at her but complies,

"Damn witch."

She smiles darkly at him,

"Did you say something?"

He raises his hands in surrender and slips under the covers of his bed, he tries to go to sleep.

_"Well, well, well you seem to have defeated my most devoted follower."_

He knew that this voice wasn't Ashura, he looks around to see that none of the Strawhats were paying attention to him.

"What of it?"

The demon chuckles,

_"You are more powerful than I gave you credit for but you are still far too weak to defeat me mortal."_

Zoro grumbles,

"Yea, yea, yea I've heard this a thousand times before."

The demon laughs at him,

_"The difference between me and all these mortal opponents you've had is that when I say you can't defeat me mortal I know you can't."_

Zoro scoffs,

"Well we'll have to see about that."

_"Yes you shall, you have very little time left mortal, enjoy it while you can."_

With that Zoro feels the demons presence disappear, he sighs and rolls over to stare at the ceiling of the room. He can't just sit around while the demon was getting closer and closer, he only had about six days until the demon would arrive. Growling he gets out of he bed and storms out of the room, leaving three confused Strawhats and an angry doctor. Chopper chases after him but the moment he exits the room he loses sight of Zoro, Chopper grumbles before returning to the room with the rest of the Strawhats. Nami looks at him,

"Where did Zoro go?"

Chopper grumbles sadly,

"I don't know the moment the pass the doors he was gone."

They all look at each worriedly but Sanji speaks up,

"Don't worry guys, he might be stupid but he's incredibly strong. Out of everyone he should be the one we worry about the least."

That reassured them a bit but there were still worried to why he would just storm out of the room.

~With Zoro~

He had ran all the way to the location where he had fought Eukithor, studying the destruction that they had caused in that area.

_"I really didn't think you could pull it off, Eukithor was a powerful foe."_

Zoro recognizes this voice as Ashura,

"He was powerful, but he was a madman. No matter how powerful if the person isn't sane enough to control it properly then they shall fall eventually."

Ashura chuckles at his words,

_"But you are still unsatisfied with this result."_

Zoro growls,

"Of course I am, I didn't win because I was strong! I won because my opponent wasn't smart enough to finish me off quickly!"

_"You were strong enough to beat him, it was simply that you were not fast enough to keep up with him."_

Zoro growls,

"That still means I wasn't strong enough to beat him."

Ashura sighs at him,

_"Then why are you complaining, don't just sit there complaining about what you lack. Work to better yourself sitting around will do nothing but brew bitter feelings."_

Zoro knew he was right, with that he heads off to find a spot to train. Though he was not sure how he would train to be stronger,

"Any ideas Ashura?"

He could hear Ashura grumbling in thought for a second,

_"There are many abilities that I know could boost your speed momentarily, but the only one that I know that can keep you consistently fast is Jinsoku."_

Zoro finally finds an isolated area to train,

"Jinsoku? What's that ability do?"

Ashura stops for a moment trying to think of a way to explain this ability,

_"Uhh you kind of overload your body which makes you stronger, faster and improves your reaction time for a set amount of time. Not much different from the Strawhat boys second gear ability."_

So he would have his own gear second reading his thoughts Ashura responds.

_"Exactly."_

Zoro sighs,

"So how do I do it?"

_"Uhh most humans can never achieve this, since overloading your body would most likely kill you."_

Zoro grumbles,

"Then why did you suggest it then."

Ashura chuckles,

_"Well technically with the powers you contain you are no longer completely human, along with the mark. Your body has slowly been adjusted to the demon powers you possess and you are about a tenth demon now, so you could possibly survive it."_

Zoro snorts,

"Possibly."

Ashura scoffs,

_"Well it's not like I always test these things out, I have better things to do with my time!"_

It was Zoro's time to scoff,

"Like what?"

Ashura's silence puts a smile on his face,

"I thought so."

He hears Ashura grumbles something incoherent,

"So how do I do it?"

_"Most of the time one would fill their body with demon energy, they would then meditate with the energy within them. Eventually they will grow accustomed to it with the demon energy racing through your body it boosts you physically. The only drawback, when you meditate it release a deadly aura and the demon energy may attempt to take over your body."_

Zoro groans,

"What is with you demons and taking over peoples bodies."

Ashura doesn't respond to him, he sighs and starts walking to a spot that would be much farther away from the palace. After about ten minutes of walking he thinks deems his current location far enough away to start.

"How do I fill my body with demon energy?"

_"You could coat your entire body in the Soul-Devouring Flame and let it rest there before it ultimately seeps into your body."_

Zoro grumbles,

"But I can't control the Soul-Devouring Flames enough to do that."

Ashura sighs,

_"Well I'll help with it this time."_

Before he can even respond his entire body is coated in flames, calming himself he falls into a meditative stance. Not even a minute after the flames enter his body he could feel himself changing, he was crazing death and violence. Zoro focuses on suppressing those thoughts, but they grow stronger and stronger. Before he fails Ashura cuts off the flames, Zoro is panting and growling.

"Damn it!"

Ashura sighs,

_"Told you it wasn't easy."_

Zoro growls at him,

"I don't want to hear it, we're doing this again!"

Ashura is hesitant,

_"Are you sure?"_

Zoro nods,

"Just cut it off before it takes full control over me."

Ashura grumbles at him before complying, this cycle repeats for hours before Zoro could no longer handle the strain put upon his body and his psyche. He collapses backwards panting, but he sees someone he wasn't expecting.

"What are you doing here Nico Robin?"

She cautiously watches him,

"I was simply passing by when I saw you, but my what dangerous energy."

He grumbles,

"So you stayed to watch me train? Kind of creepy don't you think."

She giggles at him,

"My aren't you relaxed with someone who is your enemy."

He snorts,

"Baroque Works has been defeated, you no longer have the power or manpower to defeat us."

She smiles at him,

"Fufufu how right you are, but I must ask what was that terrifying energy you exuded?"

He scoffs at her,

"I see no need to tell you."

She simply smiles and walks over to his downed body,

"I could kill you quite easily right now."

He grins back at her,

"Then why haven't you done that already?"

She laughs but doesn't give him an answer, she slowly starts to walk away. Zoro strains himself to stand up and start heading back to the palace, but before he leaves he gives Robin one last statement.

"If you want to join the crew just ask now, I'm sure Luffy wouldn't mind."

She snaps her head towards him to find that he had disappeared, she stares for a few moments before chuckling to herself,

"You are a perplexing man Roronoa Zoro."

**That's a wrap this chapter was alright in my book, it wasn't bad but it wasn't exceptionally great either. I have now made peace with the fact that I can't write fight scenes, honestly the fight scene was terrible in my opinion. I'm going to look at ways to improve my writing in that part, but I'm not sure if it will improve much. With that the next chapter will be the Strawhats remaining in Alabasta for a bit of celebration, after that I will have the crew set off from Alabasta and stop on an island for the confrontation between Zoro and the Demon of the Core. Who I still need a name for since writing Demon of the Core is getting really annoying to mention, so I'll be looking into to a name for him. Along with that I will have Robin join the Strawhats for the celebration so that Zoro and Robin will interact a bit before they set off. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	17. An Archaeologist Enters

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Everyone was celebrating, Alabasta has ended the civil war on terms that both parties could agree too and Baroque Works a criminal organization lead by the Shichibukai Crocodile has been defeated. The Strawhats were having the time of their lives, well most of them anyway. Luffy has finally awakened after two days of being asleep and was enjoying the food, Nami was having fun drinking and scamming people of their money, Usopp stood atop a pillar spouting about his deeds during the attack, Sanji was flirting with every girl that had appeared and Chopper was treating the remaining injured. Zoro watched this all take place silently slowly taking sips of his sake, until he is approached by Chaka and Pell. They smile at him,

"Why are you alone here Demon Wind?"

He raises an eyebrow at them,

"Can I not be alone?"

Pell chuckles,

"No offense but you're crew just saved a nation and defeated a Shichibukai, most would be celebrating. But you're silent here, so we were curious to why you weren't with them."

Zoro sighs and leans back,

"Yea, this should be a joyous situation by any means. I am happy that we had defeated him, but there are many things on my mind that my joy of his defeat can't overshadow."

Their smiles falter a bit,

"We won't ask of what these thoughts are, but I don't think you should let them hold you back from enjoying your time here my friend."

Zoro looks at them and his face breaks into a smile,

"Yea, yea I know."

They chuckle at him before growing serious,

"I know this might not be our place to ask."

Zoro narrows his eyes a bit,

"But what happened, we know who your opponent is. His abilities would not lead to injuries like the one you sustained, plus we had a few men say that you had defeated Mr. 1 quite quickly. So we must ask what had happened during your battle."

Before Zoro could get a word out they interrupt him,

"You do not have to answer if you do not wish to, but we have stated our intent."

Zoro sighs tiredly,

"I won't go into details, but after I had defeated Mr. 1 I had fought another opponent."

They watched Zoro speak curiously,

"After defeating him a demon named Eukithor emerged to fight me."

They both looked at him in shock,

"A-a demon? Surely you jest."

Zoro rubs the back of his head,

"I am not, I had barely managed to defeat him. I main reason I had beaten him was that he was insane and was not bright enough to finish me off before I finally understood his attack pattern and found an opportunity to strike him down."

They both slowly let the information soak in, while they were doing this Zoro walks past them to join the rest in celebration. But he is stopped when Chaka grabs his shoulder,

"Are you saying that demons exist my friend?"

Zoro looks him dead in the eyes,

"Yes, so do gods. Don't get hung over the thought of divine and demonic beings watching over us, they rarely ever interact with us."

With that Zoro leaves them alone to join his crew, Luffy instantly notices him.

"Zolo! The fud te hab is so gud!

Zoro chuckles at him,

"Yea I have no doubt."

He sits down at the table to get some food himself, while munching away he watches the crew carefully. This was what he was working to protect, he wouldn't let them die. Well that was if he himself would survive the next week, which his hopes weren't exactly high in that matter but he couldn't just give up. His thoughts are interrupted when he hears people gasping and shouting to his left, he turns towards the direction to see Robin walking towards them. The guards around her have their weapons out ready to strike her down, but Zoro stops them from doing anything stupid.

"Lower your weapons, everyone!"

They all look at him suspiciously and hesitate, but Zoro's steel gaze and hand who was hovering over his blade told them that even if they tried he would cut them down. Robin smiles at him in appreciation Zoro simply grunts at her as she walks past him to Luffy,

"Hello Strawhat."

Luffy smiles at her happily,

"Hey, it's you!"

She giggles at this,

"I have a request to make."

Luffy tilts his head at her,

"What is it?"

Her smile falters a bit,

"I would like to join your crew."

Everyone is shocked by this statement, this woman was previously their enemy and she has the audacity to walk up to their saviors and ask to join them. They were about to cry in outrage but Luffy responds to her first,

"Sure."

Everyone is just dumbfounded as Luffy actually accepts her, the Strawhats also had varying reactions. Nami just looks at Luffy in shock, Usopp backs away a bit in fear, Sanji being Sanji rejoices due to their being another girl in their crew and Chopper just sits their slightly confused not understanding the situation fully. Zoro seeing everyone's reaction laughs a booming laugh, they all snap their heads to him in confusion.

"Hah, the captains words are final guys can't do anything about that."

With that Zoro returns to his sake and food ignoring all the looks they gave him, Robin quietly laughs at them all before looking back at Luffy.

"Honestly did not expect you to actually accept me."

Luffy looks at her confused,

"Why wouldn't I accept you?"

She simply waves him off and walks out the palace, Zoro calls out to her.

"Be at our ship in two days, that's when we set off!"

She nods in acknowledgement, with that she disappears from the palace. Finally broken from their stupor the Alabastians turn towards the Strawhats,

"Why would you accept her!"

"Are you insane?!"

There were many more but Zoro tunes them all out until he hears a particular statement,

"We should just hunt the witch down ourselves."

With that Zoro stands up unsheathing Yubashiri and points it at the man who said that,

"She is part of our crew now, if you attack her I will see that as an attack on our crew. If you attack our crew I will not hesitate to cut you down myself, so hold your tongue guardsman."

The man pales and nods backing away, they all look at Zoro cautiously thinking he might do something else. But are proven wrong when he simply sits back down to enjoy more food and sake, King Cobra seeing that the situation might have gotten out of hand speaks.

"Now, now people let's not let that put a damper on our mood. Let us enjoy the festivities, Alabasta is free from conflicts again!"

They all cheer for their king and Zoro smiles, that really diffused the situation quickly. He had acted out for Robin even though she had just joined their crew just moments before due to how important every single member of the Strawhats was to him. Finally having enough Zoro stands stretching and walks to the room where he had awakened the day earlier, leaning his swords against the frame of the bed he gets under the covers closing his eyes.

_"He is getting closer and closer is sleeping really a good idea friend."_

He raises his eyebrows at this,

"So we're friends now?"

He hears Ashura grumble,

_"Just answer the question."_

Zoro sighs,

"There isn't much left I can do and stressing over it won't help me much either, so I'll try to enjoy these next few days."

Ashura doesn't respond and Zoro takes this as an indication to sleep.

~Two Days Later~

They were all set to go, they had everything they needed already on their ship. They had to set sail soon so that the Marines or Vivi don't catch them leaving, Robin wasn't anywhere in sight but Zoro wasn't worried about her. She would find her own way onto the ship, that is if she isn't already on the ship that is.

"Let's get going guys!"

Luffy wings towards him,

"But Robin isn't here yet!"

Zoro chuckles,

"Don't worry about it I'm sure that she'll find a way to join us, but we can't afford to stay much longer lest the Marines catch us."

Luffy pouts but Sanji was the one who responded,

"How dare you, we must never leave a lady behind!"

Zoro grumbles and looks at Nami,

"Can you deal with him."

Nami sighs and walks over to Sanji, smacking him over the head.

"Forget about it and help us set sail you idiot!"

Sanji gains hearts in his eyes before running away to follow her command, Zoro chuckles at this but Nami turns towards him.

"Help us too, don't just take a nap leaving us to do everything."

He waves her off but still heads out to his post so that they could set sail soon, after a few moments they finally set off from Alabasta. They were about a quarter of a mile from the shore when they hear someone call out for them, they look in the direction of the shore and see Vivi. She was crying,

"Thank you guys for everything you've done and I'm sorry I can't go out to sea with you guys!"

They all smile even though this time they didn't possess the x on their arms the message behind the Strawhats raised arm was still there and with that the Strawhats finally depart from Alabasta.

~10 Minutes Later~

Luffy groans,

"I miss Vivi~"

Nami, Chopper and Sanji all join in with Luffy laying on the ground groaning about the Princess, Zoro sighs at their behavior. He leans back on the railing trying to relax until Robin arrives which incidentally would not take long, as a few moments after the crew hears some giggle at them they all snap their heads towards the sound to see Robin. Luffy smiles at this,

"Robin!"

She smiles back at him,

"Hello captain."

Luffy and Chopper is then distracted by the hand's that formed from Robin's Devil Fruit, Sanji being Sanji instantly serves her food while spouting nonsense about love. The only ones that weren't completely won over by Robin is Nami, Usopp and Zoro.

"I was lucky enough to taken a few of Crocodiles prized gems before his organization collapsed upon itself."

Zoro sweatdrops as Nami was instantly won over, leaving just Usopp and him. Which also did not last long as Luffy and Chopper playing with her hands causes him to lose it and join in with them, Zoro simply chuckles at how easily each of them caved in and closes his eyes. He gets a few moments of peace before he senses someone approach him, popping one of his eyes open he sees Robin standing over him smiling. He grunts out,

"What do you want?"

She sits across from him,

"I wish to learn more about you and everyone on this crew."

He snorts,

"Then go ask them, it's not like I know everything about them."

Her gazes seem to pierce right through him,

"Quite true but not at the same time."

He raises an eyebrow at her at her cryptic response,

"You seem to know a lot more than you reveal you do, I'm not one to judge for keeping secrets but I do think yours could be quite disastrous."

Zoro snorts at that,

"I'll deal with it when it comes to it, but I don't believe you should be talking about secrets so casually. Especially considering yours."

That response unnerved her but before she could question him any further Sanji calls them over for lunch, in which Zoro promptly stands and walks towards the kitchen. Leaving a suspicious Robin sitting alone at the bow,

"You are a puzzling man indeed."

~A While Later~

The day passed without any trouble plaguing the Strawhats, everyone was asleep except for Zoro who was keeping watch for the night once again. All was quiet that night the only sound that could be heard was the steady breathing of the swordsman and the sound of the waves in the background, all was calm and he greatly enjoyed this peace. That was what he wished for but was not the reality, as calm as he seemed outside his insides were a storm of stress and fear.

_"Calm huh."_

Grumbling Zoro lays back to try lessen the stress he was feeling,

"Shut up, you wouldn't know how I feel you're a god for damns sake."

Ashura chuckles at him,

_"So much bravado and this is what you've become."_

Zoro growls at him prompting Ashura to laugh at him, but before he can say anything he hears footsteps approach him. Tilting his head to the side to see someone approach him,

"Robin."

She smiles at him,

"Mr. Swordsman."

He sits up to watch her carefully as she sits down across from him,

"What are you doing still awake."

She chuckles,

"Am I not allowed to be awake at this time?"

Zoro grumbles knowing that he couldn't control them,

"I'm on watch you shouldn't waste sleep."

She simply smiles at him and doesn't respond, he grumbles and closes his eyes to calm himself again. They sit in silence for a few moments before Robin speaks up,

"You are such an enigma Mr. Swordsman."

He opens his eyes lazily to look at her,

"Thanks?"

She chuckles a bit,

"You may take it as a compliment but the meaning is still behind it."

He snorts and closes his eyes again but she speaks up,

"I don't trust you Mr. Swordsman."

He chuckles,

"I don't trust you either."

Her smiles drops a bit,

"You hide too much, I have no idea how anyone could fully trust you with the enormous secret you keep behind your shell."

He narrows his eyes at her,

"Some secrets are better kept as secrets, yours is a different matter. Quite a devastating sight it was at Ohara huh?"

Robin physically freezes and snaps her head towards the swordsman,

"What did you say."

But Zoro doesn't respond, he stands up and walks over to the mast to climb up to the srows nest. He doesn't get far as Robin chases after him grabbing hold of his shoulder and turning him around,

"H-how do you know that!"

He looks at her dead in the eyes,

"I don't think I need to disclose how I came across this information."

Robin lets go of him and steps back in shock,

"W-who are you?"

Zoro sighs before turning away from her,

"A deadman."

The answer confused Robin deeply, a deadman. She watches as he ascends the ladder to the crows nest and disappears there, slightly shaken she walks back to the girls quarters hoping that some sleep would help he ease her mind from the encounter she just had. Atop the crows nest Zoro was dealing with something else,

_"You really don't know how to subtle."_

He groans at him,

"Shut up, I was never really a people's person. Prefer the company of weapons rather than people."

Ashura chuckles at this,

_"Really now? I remember how you interacted with them in your life before, especially with a certain brunette archaeologist."_

Zoro grows stiffens at this,

"How much of my life have you watched?!"

A shout rings,

_"Hah, I knew it!"_

Zoro growls,

"You didn't actually know?!"

Ashura laughs at him,

_"I had my suspicions but I was never sure. But you just confirmed them for me!"_

He growls at him before huffing and tuning him out, hoping to try hide his embarrassment. He sighs looking up at the sky,

"Two days left, I only have so much time left."

Not wanting to let him fall back into the state he had first began with he starts to meditate so to focus on his spirit.

~The Next Morning~

The Strawhats were beginning to awaken, Robin being the first one to actually wake up. She tries to smile but the conversation with the swordsman last night was still affecting her, she is shaken from her thoughts when she hears something drop. The Strawhats all look towards the sound to find the green-haired swordsman who appeared to have fallen while climbing down the ladder, they were going to call him out on it when they hear a snore come from his fallen body. They all chuckle at this, Usopp and Nami grab him so that he would be in a more comfortable position to sleep in dragging him over to the the railing of their ship. Robin's worry flows away as she watches them, they worked more as a family than a crew, everyone had there own role on the ship and they would always help each other. As rough and cold as Zoro was he would always protect her since she's joined the crew, she should have known this especially with the display of his aggressive nature during the feast back at Alabasta. When someone had threatened to harm her right after she had joined the crew, she smiles at them this time giving a full smile that was not strained by her worry of the swordsmen's knowledge. A voice breaks through all of this,

"Breakfast!"

It was Sanji yelling for them, the Strawhats all start heading towards the kitchen with the exception of Zoro who was asleep and Robin who was silently watching him. Deciding that there was nothing to gain from this Robin stands up to head to the kitchen but a sound distract her,

"I'm not gonna die that easily you damned demon, I won't let you reach my crew!"

She chuckles at Zoro talking in his sleep, but hides herself when Zoro suddenly awakens. He grumbles to himself,

"Damn he's getting closer."

His words was making her more curious,

"Yea, yea I know he's more powerful than me. But once we reach a proper island I'll slink away so they won't know I left and deal with him myself, doesn't matter how strong he is. Once I use it on him it will either defeat him or not, I'll have to see."

This conversation he seemed to be having with himself was proving to be quite interesting,

"Shut up, if I fail I fail there's nothing more to it."

He pauses for a moment and sighs,

"Yea I know."

He stares up at the sky,

"I won't fail, he won't be able to kill me, I will never let that happen."

With that Zoro walks continues on to the kitchen leaving a very intrigued Robin behind the mast. She doubted that he would want her to confront him about this while the rest of the crew was there so she would do it tonight, though that didn't mean she wouldn't keep an eye on him throughout the day to try figure out what was going on. She enters the kitchen so to have breakfast with the rest of the crew, everyone was as energetic as usual. Though with Luffy's tendencies to steal others food everyone was also on guard with the exception of Usopp who had close to all of his food stolen from him in an instant.

"AHH Luffy! Give me my food back!"

They proceed to argue for a few minutes before being silenced by Sanji, Robin chuckles at this by spares a glance to Zoro who was trying to stay awake in his exhausted state.

"Maybe you should sleep Mr. Swordsman."

He tiredly turns towards her and mumbles,

"Yea, maybe I should."

She smiles at this, but Zoro just returns to his food hoping to finish it soon. After he finished it he heads towards the door, leaving the crew behind in the kitchen. Nami had noticed Robin's constant looks at Zoro and was suspicious of what was going on, she would have to ask her about it later when they weren't with the rest of the crew.

~A While Later~

Nami found Robin reading a book and using her powers to play with Chopper, who was having what seems to be the time of his life. She clears her throat to catch their attention, Robin lowers her book to look at her.

"Yes, Miss Navigator?"

"I need to talk to you alone."

Robin puts down her book not losing her smile, she stands up and follows Nami out of the room. They both enter the girls quarters, Nami checks to see if anyone was close enough to listen in on their conversation, seeing that no one was close enough she starts talking.

"What's going on?"

Robin looks at her oddly,

"What do you mean Miss Navigator?"

Nami walks over and takes a seat,

"You know what I'm talking about, you've been looking at Zoro oddly for a while now. What's going on?"

Robin chuckles dryly

"I don't believe he would like for me to disclose anything about him, that is if I even know anything about him. Which I am saying I don't."

Nami narrows her eyes,

"Then why the glances?"

Robin continues to smile at her,

"A certain something came up right before breakfast and I'm intrigued."

Nami rubs the side of her head in annoyance,

"And what was this something?"

Robin laughs at her,

"I don't believe he would want me to disclose this Miss Navigator, I would rather not disclose this either. Lest I suffer the wrath of the enigmatic swordsman."

Nami groans at this but before she can say anything Robin speaks up,

"Though I will say that he mentioned something about dealing with something much more powerful than him."

With that Robin leaves the room leaving a very pale Nami,

"Someone much stronger than Zoro?"

This information was unnerving her, Zoro was the strongest of the crew no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Now he was going to fight someone who was stronger than him, this was not going to end well. She sighs and lays back in the chair trying to calm her nerves a bit from what she just learned, but she remembered that Zoro was from the future. This calmed her a bit, if he was from the future than he would have already dealt with this somehow right.

~That Night~

Zoro was keeping watch again something he does not really enjoy, sighing he looks out into the water knowing he was running out of time. Time passes so much faster than he wanted it to even though he wasn't doing anything, his thoughts are interrupted by footsteps approaching him again for the second night. He sighs and turns towards the footsteps,

"What do you want this time?"

With that her grin fades away completely,

"Who is it?"

He narrows his eyes at her,

"What are you talking about?"

This time it was Robin who narrowed her eyes, she takes a step forward so to try make him just a bit uncomfortable.

"I heard you this morning, you were talking to yourself and I heard you say that you were going to deal with someone much stronger than you alone. Now I will ask again who is it?"

Zoro glares at her,

"I don't appreciate you spying on me."

She chuckles dryly,

"Don't reveal information that you want to keep yourself by talking to yourself without checking if anyone is paying attention."

He sighs at her,

"Fair enough, but that doesn't mean I will tell you anything."

She simply gives him a smile that was anything but friendly,

"I never said you would tell me, I have ways of finding out information that others don't wish to tell."

He narrows his eyes at her,

"Is that a threat?"

She doesn't back down,

"No, that was a simple statement Mr. Swordsman."

In an instant Zoro unsheathes Yubashiri and closes the distance between him and Robin, placing the blade against Robin's neck causing her to tense up.

"Don't test me!"

She doesn't respond, knowing that anything he says would just set him off. He holds that for a few moments before sighing,

"I'm sorry, I'm not exactly in the right frame of mind right now. But what I say still stands don't test me Robin, you won't like the results."

Robin nods at him slowly,

"This is your crew, they believe and trust in you. If you can't reveal this to them then it will weigh you down for years to come."

He sits back down by the railing and sighs,

"There are many things about the situation that you don't understand, they won't be able to help me with this. No one can."

With that he closes his eyes and goes to sleep, Robin looks at him slowly falling asleep before walking back to the girls quarters. This was not going to end well and she knew it but with how adamant he was about this he wouldn't budge, so she would have to wait and see how this would play out.

~The Next Morning~

Sanji was very annoyed,

"Luffy!"

Sanji was chasing after Luffy who was running away very scared, this was causing a headache for everyone.

"Don't eat all the food you idiot! Now we have to stop on an island and get some food."

Nami was sighing at this,

"I'll set course for the closes island so we can restock on food."

To their luck the closes island was not very far away, it was only about twelve hours away from their current location.

"Lets set sail guys to the island, I think it was called The Dark Refuge!"

They all take in the name of the island name before setting off to their post on the ship so to set sail to the island as fast as they could. They arrived much sooner than Nami had estimated, they only took seven hours to reach the island. Zoro, Robin, Chopper and Luffy watch the ship while Sanji, Nami, and Usopp head out to gather supplies to continue on their journey. This would take a few hours, while they were out looking for supplies Chopper look over the medical equipment the ship had before going and playing with Robin who was happy to do so while reading her book. Luffy was rolling around complaining about how bored he was and that incited a giggle from Robin, the last person remaining was Zoro. Robin looked around for him only to see him standing at the bow of the ship staring at the island, she was about to call out to him. But she notices something that makes the words die in her throat, Zoro was as pale as a ghost and staring at the island with such a look of dread that it made her start fearing the island too. She doesn't have to do anything as Luffy doesn't notice Zoro's expression and runs towards him,

"Zoro! I'm so bored! Do you have anything to do?"

Zoro shakes his head a bit before putting up a strained smile and looking at Luffy,

"Nope, go play with Chopper or something."

Luffy smiles at Zoro before running to Chopper so to play with the little doctor, he sighs shakily sitting down against the mast and trying to calm his racing heart. He was sweating buckets and he hated this feeling, he looks over to the parts of his crew that were still on the ship. Luffy and Chopper were having fun playing with each other which he smiles at before he turned to the remaining member of the Strawhats on the boat, Robin who was staring intently at him. This puts a scowl on his face before he closes his eyes hoping to fall asleep to avoid the gaze of the archaeologist. The night went by without any problems and the Strawhats peacefully wake up, ready to prepare their ship to set sail on their journey through the Grand Line.

"Breakfast!"

Everyone heads towards the kitchen excitingly awaiting the food that Sanji would make,

"Sanji! What do we have for breakfast today!"

Sanji responds,

"Just wait and see Luffy."

They wait a few minutes and Sanji finishes making breakfast before he notices something odd,

"Hey, wheres Zoro?"

Finally taking a look around the crew notices that Zoro had been missing this whole time, Sanji growls.

"That idiot where is he! I won't serve breakfast until he arrives, now I have to postpone breakfast even longer."

They groan a bit before leaving the kitchen to search for the swordsman, after a few minutes everyone returns.

"Did you guys find him?"

Everyone shakes their head,

"Where could he have gone?"

None of the Strawhats could answer that question, but a certain god could.

_"He's gone to do something incredibly stupid."_

Everyone recoils from the sudden voice that appeared from nowhere, Luffy cries out.

"Who are you and what did you do with Zoro!"

Ashura ignores him,

_"Archaeologist check the crows nest there is a letter he left addressed to the crew."_

Robin scrambles to reach the crows nest, where she finds a letter which she assumed was for the Strawhats. She climbs down from the crows nest before opening and reading it,

"I'm leaving the crew for a while, don't look for me."

Everyone was confused about this letter but they all shared one singular thought on this matter,

"What the hell is going on with Zoro."

**That's a wrap this was the absolute worst chapter I have written so far, I kind of hit a writers block when I first started writing this chapter but it cleared up the day after. But then I kind of didn't have the time to do it for the next day which I am undoubtedly annoyed about but it all tops of when I tried to finish the rest of the incomplete chapter. I just didn't have the motivation to do it anymore and I really don't like that, maybe it's from my lack of sleep and how hard I'm working to achieve this or maybe I'm just running out of ideas. Nevertheless I will be slowing this down considerable due to my own schedule and my meek attempts to get more than 3 hours of sleep a day. But on that note the next chapter will be an interesting one since this won't be a canon part of the story but an OC, which even though I haven't started I feel like will be an absolute piece of shit just because of my own shitty mood. Though I will try to make it as good as I can, once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	18. The Sword of Promise and Destruction

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

They were worried Zoro had just got up and disappeared from the crew, leaving only a message telling them not to come after him. Obviously Luffy demanded that they go after Zoro, which leads them to their current situation.

"Can't we just wait for him at the ship?"

Nami was annoyed at Zoro but also worried about him, Luffy responds.

"No, we have to find Zoro!"

All the Strawhats did not look pleased with what was happening but were all worried for him nevertheless, they spend the whole morning looking for him to no avail. It wasn't until the afternoon when they would find him,

"BOOM!"

An explosion rocks the entire island, all the Strawhats watch in awe of the destruction that had just occurred. They all race off to see what had happened, when they arrive they are met with a sight they were not expecting a bloody Zoro standing in the middle of the devastation. Luffy calls out for him,

"Neh Zoro what were you doing!"

Zoro turns towards him giving him an odd stare that puts all the Strawhats on edge, he smiles darkly at them.

_"Zoro is no more mortals, all that is left is me, Volron!"_

They all stare at him before the words finally sink in,

"What did you do to Zoro!"

Luffy charges at him rearing a punch back but Zoro or Volron as he called himself simply grins at him and disappears,

_"You are all weak. Hahaha I wonder why the pitiful swordsman would around people like you, if he had more powerful friends he may have been able to delay me if only for a moment."_

Volron reappears to Luffy's right and brings down an axe kick right onto Luffy slamming him into the ground and causing the ground to crack at the force, the Strawhats all stare in shock at this. Robin was the only one composed enough to speak,

"Who or what are you?"

Volron turns towards her grinning, he stalks towards her slowly. Once he's close enough to cause discomfort for her he speaks,

_"My aren't you astute, what I am is not something that I believe you need to know."_

He looks Robin over a bit,

_"Though you are quite a looker, I understand why the swordsman liked you so much. If you made it worth my time I might consider telling you."_

Everyone was shocked at this statement but the only one to really react would be Sanji,

"What are you talking about you moss-head! Stay away from Robin-Chwan!"

Sanji goes to strike him but he's thrown back by a force no one saw,

_"Shut up you pitiful human, the only reason I haven't killed any of you yet is that I'm not allowed to. But do not test my patience, your friend and the king can only hold me back so much."_

With that Volron disappears this time not reappearing, the Strawhats all look at each other with varying looks of horror and shock. But what they all knew was that this was Zoro's body but the person behind it was no longer Zoro, Luffy wouldn't accept this though. He takes off running in a random direction, Nami calls out to him.

"What are you doing!"

Luffy turns for a moment to respond,

"I'm going to get Zoro back!"

With that Luffy disappears leaving a very anxious Nami behind,

"God that idiot, he was just beaten down with a single strike and he wants to go after him already!"

She watches as the crew slowly pulls themselves back from their shock, Chopper tugs her arm.

"Is Zoro going to be alright?"

Nami sighs,

"I don't know Chopper, I don't know."

~With Volron~

_"Foolish mortals, there is no one that can challenge me in this mortal plane!"_

_"I wouldn't be so sure of that my creation."_

Volron recognizes the voice,

_"What are you doing you old god!"_

Ashura does not seem amused,

_"This one is different he is strong for reasons you can not imagine."_

Volron barks out a laugh,

_"He has tried to stop me it failed, now he rest within never to be awakened again."_

Ashura fades away but has one last thing to say,

_"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I was you."_

Volron growls at this but Ashura is already gone, this anger bubbling within him would have to be quelled and what better way than through suffering of others. He grins to himself and starts heading towards the closest town on the island, but unknown to him Zoro didn't submit easily leaving in a state similar to sleep paralysis.

"Fuck, I thought it would have worked."

Zoro groans to himself,

_"Well it didn't so suck it up."_

Zoro growls at him,

"I'm not just gonna let him use my body anyway he likes, I'm still conscious there has to be a way to take it back!"

Ashura is silent which annoyed Zoro to no end,

"Is there no way for me to get my body back!"

Ashura answers this time,

_"There is."_

Zoro waits for him to elaborate but he doesn't,

"How?"

Ashura sighs,

_"You would have to fight and defeat him, but we already know that you can't defeat him."_

Zoro snarls at him,

"You aren't helping here."

_"I could give you a little something to help you."_

Zoro cocks his eyebrow at this,

"What?"

_"My prized weapon The Exiled Warblade: Decimation, with the sword you may be able to defeat him."_

Zoro narrows his eyes,

"May?"

Ashura snorts,

_"Just because you have a powerful weapon in your hands you think you could defeat everyone, don't be daft a weapon is only as good as it's user. The question is are you strong enough to wield the blade Roronoa, to wield it you will be put through many trials that will push you beyond the point of sanity. So I will ask again do you think you are strong enough to wield it Roronoa?"_

Zoro pauses for a moment before donning a confident grin,

"Who do you think you're talking to."

Ashura finally manifests a physical body again, this time he wasn't a mass of shadows but was an actual person. He smiles at Zoro,

_"Then let us get started."_

~With The Strawhats~

They had all returned to the ship after a day of searching, none of them spoke a word since they encountered Zoro or Volron. They all sat in silence as they contemplated what had happened today, they had lost their First Mate, their friends, someone they trusted. He wasn't dead but they would not be able to reach out to him, this was causing them to become more and more frustrated with their own weakness.

"God damn it!"

They all look to see Luffy on the floor gripping his face and yelling, they would have gone to comfort him if they weren't in moods similar to his. There was little they could do now and they knew it, but they were determined to do something. The only one that could speak up was Robin,

"Let's rest now, staying up all night worrying about this won't help us or Zoro."

All they could do was agree but they didn't like it, they wished that there was something that they could do for Zoro.

"We can search him again tomorrow, but for now we should just head to bed."

One by one the Strawhats shuffle out of the room and head to their respective quarters, the last one to do so was Robin. She walked to the bow of the ship and stared off into the island with only one thing on her mind,

"What did you do Zoro?"

She could only sigh and put her head down is exhaustion as she knew that she would most likely receive an answer to that, knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep she hops off the ship and heads towards the town that Sanji had gone to restock their food. She didn't expect the town to be much but that assumption is completely destroyed as she gets close enough to the town, the town was completely destroyed and there were people butchered on the streets. Robin could only gasp in shock at the sight,

"Who could have done this?"

She would get her answer soon enough as a man comes running and screaming from one of the still semi destroyed buildings, Robin was about to call out to him but is silenced when the man's body splits in two. It was a very gruesome sight that even made Robin a bit queasy, she looked up from the body to find Zoro or Volron barely inches away from her staring her down intently. Robin didn't mean to back away but she did, only inciting a cruel grin from Volron.

_"My, my, my you should not have come here little girl. You and your crew have already tempted me enough, now that you're alone in front of me I'm just itching to run you through."_

The looks of glee on this face scared Robin very much, and the expression of fear she had only prompted for Volron to get closer.

_"Now run along don't want to kill you just yet, I'm going to have fun with you guys."_

Finally regaining her voice Robin speaks up,

"W-why are you in Zoro's body?"

At this Volron frowns,

_"I don't like people who ask questions."_

He slowly walks closer and closer to Robin before he's right in front of her, he pulls his blade out and readies himself to strike her down. Frozen in fear Robin couldn't find the energy to run away, closing her eyes she awaits her fate. But it never comes, she opens her eyes to see Volron intensely shaking. She slowly steps back hoping to get away without setting him off,

"R-robin, g-get out of h-here now! I can o-only control his m-movements for so l-long!"

Robin looks back at him to see that this was Zoro not Volron, he was still in there and was fighting for control of his body from Volron. She wants to ask him what was going on but he interrupts her,

"Get out of here now!"

Knowing that she shouldn't push her luck she turns around and bolts for the Strawhats ship, leaving behind Zoro who was still battling Volron. After a few moments they become still before a growl is heard,

_"So you were still there you dumb mortal, I will not relinquish this body! You will fade away and I will be reborn into this world to cause havoc!"_

Zoro couldn't do much since he had expended all his energy just to make sure Volron wouldn't cut Robin down, he lays back and sighs in annoyance.

_"You just had to do that didn't you."_

Zoro turns his head to the side to see Ashura sitting in a lawn chair drinking something,

"Of course, I can't just let him kill on of my crew mates."

Ashura sighs and stands up from his chair,

_"We don't have much time you know, we are still within the trials of the blade. You can not just disappears like that, the blade will not pick someone who can't complete it's trials within a set amount of time."_

Zoro groans,

"Yea I know, lets just get to it."

Ashura grimly smiles at him,

_"You only have like 6 more trials to go and 4 more hours."_

Zoro growls,

"Then lets get to it, I don't have anytime to waste."

Ashura sighs but still sends him to his next trial,

_"I hope you can achieve it my friend."_

Zoro appears in a dark cave, there was laughing all around him. The laughing stops for a moment when a voice breaks through,

**"Weak! Weak! Weak! Hahaha you are so weak!"**

Zoro growls at this but doesn't respond, he grips the hilts of his blades and follows the voice through the darkness. When suddenly he senses something coming at him, he reacts in time to block but the strike was powerful causing Zoro to fly back into the wall. Groaning and looking up he finally gets a good look at his assailant, it was a bat-like creature that possessed bright blue eyes and was wearing a suit of sorts.

**"You don't even have enough mastery of the Soul-Devouring Flames to scratch me!"**

Zoro growls at this but has to thank the fact that this creature was stupid enough to tell him what he could use to defeat him, the only problem the demon was right. Zoro had neglected his training and his mastery over the Soul-Devouring Flames was not great, but he would have to make do with what he had. He unsheathes all three of his blades and readies himself to fight the creature, the creature simply gives a booming laugh before flying at him once again. Coating his blades in his flames he hopes that his flames would be strong enough to at least scratch the creature,

"Ashura Hakai!"

Luck was on his side, either this creature was incredibly weak or he was incredibly strong.

_"Neither, this creature is powerful not on the same level as Volron but still powerful in his own right. You are not powerful it was simply because you did not know that Ashura Hakai uses the Soul-Devouring Flames to strike out. As weak as your flames are that strike empowered it to a massive degree."_

Zoro happily whistles at this and watches as the world around him fades away leaving him in the blank white room he began with, he looks at Ashura.

"Next trial."

Ashura chuckles,

_"5 more to go."_

~A While Later~

The Strawhats all awaken when they hear thumping and footsteps on their ship, Nami silently creeps out to see who it is. To find Robin collapsed on the deck of the ship wheezing, she rushes to her calling the others to come. Robin was slowly regaining her breath,

"I found him."

Those words make everyone pause and stare at her, Sanji cautiously approaches her,

"Where did you find him?"

Robin gulps a bit of water before responding,

"It was in the town or what's left of the town I should say."

They all look at her in shock,

"What do you mean what's left of the town, what could have happened?"

Robin chokes out,

"It was Volron, he destroyed the entire town and butchered everyone."

Almost all the Strawhats pale at this, the only one that didn't was Luffy who had an enraged look on his face.

"The only good news I can bring is that Zoro isn't gone, when Volron was about to kill me Zoro fought for control over the body. That means hes still alive in there, we can save him!"

After a hearing that the Strawhats face all brighten a bit as they gain a new found determination to save their comrade,

"Let's go guys!"

With Luffy leading the charge the crew all head into town hoping to their friend and save him.

~With Zoro~

This was the second last trial and this was taking a toll on Zoro's body, even though this wasn't physically his body it still had his actual bodies limitations. This one was a very different trial compared to the rest, most of the trials he had dealt with all had him fighting a creature but this one didn't have that. This one was a simple task that required Zoro to carry a giant stone up a mountain, this was really pushing him to his limits. When he had finally reached the top he is met once again by the blank white room, sighs and looks at Ashura about to tell him to send him to the final trial. But Ashura has something to say first,

_"You best hurry my friend, it seems that your crew mates have found Volron and are about to fight him."_

Zoro looks at him in shock,

"Are you serious, dammit I though I told those idiots to just go!"

_"Now is not the time, off to the next trial you go!"_

Praying that the last trail was not going to be a long one he calms himself, he appears in an abandoned city. Slowly he walks towards the giant temple in the center of the city, once he arrives he sees a black and red blade embedded in a stone. Thinking that this was the blade he runs forward to grab it, but he doesn't get far as the moment he got within five feet of the blade he is blasted back. Growling he looks up to see a person staring back at him,

_"Why do you believe that you are worthy of wielding me?"_

Knowing that he doesn't have much time he growls out the first thing that comes to his mind,

"Because I fight to protect!"

They are overtaken by a silence before he smiles at Zoro,

"Well said mortal, I will grant you the ability to wield me in your time of need."

The person slowly fades away, leaving a groaning Zoro on the ground and the blade still embedded in the stone. Much calmer this time Zoro walks up to the blade and grips the hilt, he can feel the power coursing through his body. As this happens he watches as the scenery around him slowly begins to crumble.

~With the Strawhats~

Saying that things weren't going well would have been an understatement, Chopper and Usopp had already been knocked unconscious, Nami went to tend to them, Robin was barely staying conscious to help, lastly Sanji and Luffy were facing Volron, Their bodies were battered and bloodied from the beat down they received from the demon. They were barely able to stand much less fight the demon,

_"You should have just left me alone, if you did that I wouldn't have been able to kill you id-."_

Volron is interrupted as a light emerges from his body, they all shield their eyes from it. After a few moments the light dies down, they look again this time to see two things Zoro and a creature that bore a great resemblance to Zoro.

_"What have you done!"_

Zoro chuckles and swings his newly acquired blade around,

"I'm just here for a rematch demon."

Volron was trying to keep his cool but he had not expected this and he was enraged by this situation,

_"Then prepare to be beaten again fool!"_

Zoro chuckles at this,

"We'll have to see about that."

He aims Decimation straight at Volron, not turning back he calls out to his crew.

"Guys back off, he's mine!"

They wouldn't argue as they all retreat to a safe distance to watch Zoro fight the demon, though the worry was shown on their face they knew that Zoro was determined not to lose this time.

_"You foolish mortal, I am a demon much beyond your own feeble strength! How do you hope to defeat me!"_

Zoro doesn't responds but readies Decimation, finally having enough of the silence Volron charges him. This was going to be a one-sided fight there was little that Zoro could do about it, the only way that he would defeat him would be to biding his time and using Soul Entrapment on him. This wasn't going to be an easy task as Volron was a very fast and powerful demon, sighing to himself once Zoro focuses on the task in front of him. Volron was relentless strike after strike aimed to kill Zoro, he was barely keeping up with him his body was starting to fall apart slowly. He wouldn't last much longer and he knew it, but his opportunity to strike still had yet to arise so he must be patient.

_"You are growing weaker and weaker by the moment mortal, just give up and return your body to me! If you do I promise not to kill any of your friends!"_

Zoro growls at this,

"I'm not a fool demon, I know you won't keep your word!"

Volron simply scowls at this and continues his attack on Zoro, finally Zoro let his guard down enough for Volron to strike him. The offending strike piercing through his lung and exiting through his left side, not having enough time to recover Zoro is helpless as Volron appears in front of him and kicks him. Sending him sprawling away barely keeping his grip on Decimation, the Strawhats watch helplessly as they watched their friend get thrashed around. Groaning Zoro looks up to see Volron standing over him grinning like a madman,

_"This is it fool, I have won! Hahaha!"_

But his laughter is abruptly stopped when he sees Zoro not grovelling but smiling at him,

_"What's with the smile, have you finally gone insane."_

Zoro chuckles at him,

"You left yourself open."

Volron couldn't react in time as Zoro shoots Decimation forward into Volron's chest,

"Frigid Blast!"

Volron jumps back but the effect of the attack had already taken effect, his movements were dulled to an extent where Zoro would be able to land a counter once in a while. Volron growls at this and wanting to end this all goes for an attack to destroy.

_"Koryo to Shita Kaze!"_

The strike was powerful beyond measure tearing apart the land as it hurtled towards Zoro,

"Shit!"

He wouldn't be able to get out in time the strike would hit him dead-on most likely putting him out of commission,

_"My friend become one with the blade, only then shall the power within truly be unveiled."_

Not exactly sure what to do Zoro does the first thing that comes to mind,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

Was it a bit stupid, yes. Did it work, somehow yes. Decimation had merged with Zoro the light emanating from Zoro disappears to show a slightly different looking Zoro, within his green hair appeared a few strands of blood red. His eyes became black with red pupils, his clothing changed to that of a Stygian black body armor with a red cape behind him. This new Zoro grins at the oncoming attack and brings out Sandai Kitetsu coating it in Soul-Devouring Flames before striking at Volron's attack splitting it in two. They all stare in wonder at the new power that Zoro displayed something they were completely unfamiliar with, Zoro grins at this showing his newly acquired canine tooth.

"Come at me now, I'll kill you where you stand."

Volron enraged by this claim charges at Zoro they exchange many blows back and forth, but ultimately Zoro was still in a losing battle. His body couldn't hold up this form much longer especially with the injury that he had suffered earlier, he would have to end this soon or he would die. The only solution that Zoro could think of would require him to be close enough to hold him down, growling Zoro throws himself forward intent on ending it soon.

"Jinsoku!"

With the added speed Zoro races forward and locks blades with Volron,

_"What is this mortal, what could you have done int hat time to become so powerful!"_

Zoro grins at him,

"Now where's the fun in that."

Volron growls but before he can say anything Zoro interrupts him,

"But it's too bad we can't continue this."

Volron pauses in confusion,

"Wha-?!"

Zoro angles his blade down and moving Volron's own blade away and makes a grab for his neck, he succeeds in doing so.

"Bye, bye, Tamashi no Tojikome!"

Volron could only yell one last thing before being absorbed by the light,

_"You bastard!"_

With that Volron disappears within the light leaving only Zoro on the battlefield and the Strawhats all on the sides. Zoro grins but the grin slowly fades as Decimation emerges from his body and clatters onto the ground he stares at the blade for a few moments before finally slowly falling to his knees and collapsing onto the ground, the Strawhats all rush to him to check on his condition. They all hearing Zoro chuckling before he falls unconscious,

"This is going to hurt int eh morning."

~The Next Day~

Zoro lays in the bed staring at the ceiling in silence, he had somehow managed to defeat one of the most powerful demons to ever exist. He was still wrapping his head around the notion,

_"Technically you didn't defeat him, you just tricked him and trapped in within a cage built by your body."_

Zoro growls,

"Don't take this victory away from me, you were there when I fought him the first time. You knew how one-sided it was and still somehow I came out the victor in the end, so hah jackass."

Ashura chuckles at this but doesn't respond leaving Zoro to his own thoughts again, he had actually done it. It was something he was determined to do but it seemed so impossible that he didn't believe he would be able to do it. His thoughts are interrupted when Luffy barges into the room,

"Zoro!"

He jumps onto him causing Zoro to groan in pain,

"Get off me."

Luffy laughs and hops off him, all the Strawhats walk into the room that Zoro was in. Their all silent for a moment not knowing how to start this, but eventually Robin speaks up for them.

"Zoro."

Zoro looks at her,

"Yea?"

She takes breath before asking,

"What the hell happened?"

Zoro chuckles a bit before coughing and gripping his sides in pain, Chopper scolds him.

"Don't make any big movements, he pierced your lung! You're lucky to even be alive at this point!"

Zoro grumbles,

"Sure, sure."

Robin clears her throat,

"You didn't answer my question."

Zoro looks at her and sighs,

"That was the Demon of the Core, Volron. One of the strongest demons to ever exist, he was created by the demon god Ashura, but he can not sustain a physical form on this mortal plane so ever few years a vessel is chosen by Ashura to be inhabited by him."

They all silently listen to what Zoro was saying,

"He's a demon?"

Zoro nods his head,

"And a damn powerful one at that, I wasn't able to defeat him the first time we fought. The second time we fought I had won simply because I possessed a powerful weapon that had allowed me to fight on more of an even stage to him, though that was still not enough for me to defeat him as I had to use a new ability that I had discovered. Though my mastery over the ability isn't the greatest I was still able to use it to defeat him."

Nobody except for Robin seemed to be able to talk after learning this,

"What was that ability you used?"

Zoro sighs,

"Now where's the fun in just telling you?"

Robin's expression doesn't change making Zoro sigh,

"Fine, that ability was called Soul-Entrapment(Tamashi no Tojikome), it's an ability that I had accidentally acquired while training. It allows me to tap into the essence of my opponent and trap them within my body, this was the only way that I could think of defeating such a powerful creature."

They all stare at him slightly confused,

"Ahh just forget about it, to simplify its an ability that traps my opponent within my body. I rarely ever use it and most of the time it doesn't last an extended period of time like this, but I'm going to have to trap him here permanently less he escapes and tries to kill me again."

Robin is about to speak up, but Zoro interrupts her.

"Lets just get some food, I don't feel like explaining much right now. Cause you know hole in lung, and an exhausting fight against a powerful demon."

They all agree and slowly shuffle out of the room, leaving Zoro alone in the room. Zoro chuckles at them before sighing and laying back down on the bed,

"Finally I can relax, I really didn't expect to come out of this with a new powerful weapon and a demon being trapped within my body."

Ashura snorts,

_"Well what did you expect?"_

Zoro chuckles,

"Well nevertheless this is a win and I can focus more on the crew rather than the threat of death by a demon."

Ashura laughs,

_"How right you are."_

Ashura fades away leaving Zoro to get up and leave the room, looking out from his spot Zoro can only smile at the bright day.

"Things are only going to get better now."

**That's a wrap this chapter was terrible in my opinion, it could have been a hell of a lot better. But I couldn't think of a way to make it better, I'm kind stumped in making OC things and I'm kind of lacking motivation to write nowadays. I'm mostly going to stick to canon things but add my own little twist in it until I can think of an OC event that's you know actually good since I kind of bomb this one. So until I can think of a proper one I'll be focusing more on the canon story and developing the relationship between Zoro and Robin, which I am actually really looking forward to. Something else I might add is that I initially wanted to have the Strawhats fight Volron while flipping to the battle between Volron and Zoro within his subconscious and you know Zoro discovering something of a power of friendship thing, but I stopped and thought about it and I was like no. So instead I decided to give him a new kick-ass sword that he can't always use and the ability to merge with it to create, I don't know Super Zoro? I'm not exactly great with names for I've been using online generators for some of them, though not completely happy with everything about this chapter the whole Exiled War-Blade Decimation was something I had found great and I will expand upon it later on in the story. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	19. Onto Sky Island

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

It was two days after the incident on the island and the Strawhats were finally arriving at Jaya, Zoro sighs there he was going to have to deal with Bellamy and Enel again. Something he was not looking forward to, he stumbles up from the spot where he was napping,

"Should just stay asleep, instead of heading into town."

He hears someone giggle,

"Now sleeping all day isn't a good use of time Mr. Swordsman."

He raises an eyebrow at her and grunts,

"Why do you still use nicknames for us, why not just call us by our actual names."

Robin simply smiles at him,

"Isn't it more fun if we use nicknames?"

Zoro simply grumbles before heading towards the back of the ship so to meditate a bit before they arrive, after a few minutes of meditating a shout is heard.

"Land ho!"

Sighing Zoro stands up and walks to join the rest of the crew, Luffy was excitingly bouncing around at the prospect of exploring another island. The others could only smile at his excitable nature, Zoro rubs his head in annoyance as they finally dock onto the island. Nami speaks to everyone before they leave the ship,

"Remember guys, we have to discover anything we can about the sky island. OK?"

They all respond, Luffy immediately races towards the town followed by Zoro who was grinning, Nami turns towards Robin.

"Can you keep track of those two idiots? Also tell them not to get into any trouble."

Robin chuckles,

"Sure."

She slowly follows them into town, she loses track of them once they enter the town but she knows that eventually either Luffy or Zoro would cause a scene telling her where they would be. She silently walks around enjoying the scenery of the town. She finds a Luffy and Zoro not too much after as she sees Luffy running across the town laughing while Zoro was scowling and yelling at him, she chuckles and follows the path of destruction and chaos that they caused before they finally stop at a bar. They both enter the bar Luffy grinning while Zoro had a look of indifference that seemed to be hiding something, she curiously walks into the bar to see what was going to happen. She silently watches with a smile on her face as Luffy argues with a pirate about food and Zoro groans at them, finally the barkeep gives the unnamed pirate his food and he leaves the bar leaving Luffy and Zoro alone. Her observation is interrupted when another pirate storms into the bar the entire bar becomes quiet as he enter, the man walks up to Luffy and talks to him.

"So who are you?"

Luffy grins at him,

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!"

The pirate introduces himself,

"Names Bellamy the Hyena, so what brings you to this shit town?"

Luffy swallows his food and answers,

"I'm trying to get to the sky island!"

The whole bar is silent for a moment before it erupts in laughter, this causes Robin to frown.

"You're a riot kid how bout I buy you a drink."

Luffy thanks him and drink it, but before anyone could say anything Bellamy grabs the back of Luffy's head and slams it into the table breaking it. Instantly Zoro draws his sword and places it against Bellamy's neck, they stare at each other intently but Luffy calls out to Zoro.

"Don't do anything, Nami told us not to cause any trouble."

Zoro growls but complies sheathing his sword, only to get thrown across the room by Bellamy.

"You pirates are idiot! Sky island? This isn't a game, Sky island doesn't exist and you fools are just wasting your time!"

Luffy and Zoro don't say a word as the pirates attack them,

"Don't you get it, the age of pirate dreams are over! You should just go kill yourselves so that we won't have to bother with idiots like you anymore."

With that Luffy and Zoro are thrown out of the bar bloodied and battered, Robin quietly exits the bar without anyone knowing and walks over to them.

"Why didn't you guys fight back?"

Luffy and Zoro slowly pull themselves off the ground and dust themselves off, but a voice rings out,

"Zehaha, what are you talking about miss, they won the battle."

They all look towards the voice to see the man that Luffy had argued with in the bar, Luffy's face was neutral but Zoro's face displayed unbridled rage, he starts to spot something but Robin was too focused on the expression that Zoro had. Luffy watches as the man talks while Zoro grabs his swords and walks away, Robin was unsure of who to watch over Luffy or Zoro, but she didn't have to decide as once Zoro started walking away Luffy turned and followed him. Not a single word is exchanged as they journeyed back to their ship, they all arrive and the crew are all distraught as the see the condition in which Luffy and Zoro are in. Chopper heads to tend to them but Zoro shakes him off and storms onto the ship, they can only watch as Zoro disappears onto the ship. They all wonder what had happened in the town for them to end up in this condition, they all look towards Robin but she shakes her head indicating that it wasn't her place to tell them.

~A While Later~

The crew haven't seen Zoro since he entered the ship but they were all sitting within Montblanc Crickets house discussing the Sky Island with them. They were having fun with food and drinks, but unknown to them Zoro was in the forest taking his anger out by training.

_"You should calm down Roronoa, this is nothing to get worked up over."_

Zoro growls,

"I know I shouldn't but I always hated this movement, to dissipate my anger isn't a simple task and you should know that."

_"How about I teach you a new move?"_

This causes Zoro to pause,

"How about the one you mentioned in Alabasta and a new one?"

Ashura chuckles,

_"Getting greedy now are you."_

Zoro scoffs,

"You mentioned teaching me that one before, what was it called? Raguna Shometsu I think, so add that onto the one you're going to teach me now."

Ashura sighs,

_"Fine, fine, but I'll teach you the new move first. It is called Yggdrasil, you best remember that."_

Zoro chuckles,

"Yggdrasil, so what does this to?"

_"Yggdrasil requires an absolute calm mind when doing it, it would work better with Decimation since he could harness the required energy for it but I don't think he would just let you use him for any battle. Yggdrasil is an unstoppable burst of nature energy shot forward in a slash, to do so you must pull the very essence from the plant and creatures around you."_

Zoro perks up,

"Unstoppable?"

Ashura chuckles,

_"Of course, all humans are impure beings and can not come in contact with nature energy so no matter what they do the strike will pass through any defense they have."_

Zoro smiles at this,

"I'm liking this already."

He enters a meditative state to try calm himself from the events that happened earlier,

_"Though I'm going to mention the attack has a limited amount of uses a day, it depends on the amount of nature energy that you collect each day."_

Zoro sighs,

"I knew there was a catch somewhere in there."

Ashura chuckles before fading away leaving Zoro to meditate alone,

"Wait a second how do I gather nature energy?"

Ashura sighs,

_"I can't help you with that too much, due tot eh fact that I rarely ever touch upon nature energy."_

Zoro groans,

"Great help."

With that Zoro continues to meditate for a few hours until he hears shouting coming from where the crew was, he opens his eyes and looks over to the area where the Cricket's house is. He doesn't see anything until he uses his Observation Haki, with that he sees that Montblanc Cricket and two monkey like men were being attacked by Bellamy. He sits for a few moments trying to decide whether or not to intervene, he grumbles and starts walking to them not knowing where his crew was. He finally emerges to find Bellamy taunting them,

"You're an old fool that's been wasting his time, someone like you won't have any need for this gold! Hahahh-haha!"

Zoro slowly approaches them,

"Hey shut up already you're too damn loud."

Bellamy and his goons snap their heads towards Zoro, they recognize him and start laughing.

"Hey, look it's the fool from the bar earlier! Come to get beaten down again?"

Zoro yawns and unsheathes Yubashiri,

"Too damn loud, Sanjuroku Poundo Ho!"

The strike speeds towards them and Bellamy was the only one fast enough to escape it, he hopes away with his Devil Fruit and stares back at Zoro.

"You can't defeat me no matter how strong you pretend to be!"

Zoro chuckles,

"I'm not pretending to be strong, I am strong."

With that he charges forward,

"Jinsoku!"

He appears behind Bellamy and swing Yubashiri downward, the impact being much stronger than he had anticipated manages to crack his sword. With Bellamy defeated Zoro drags the bodies and throws them to the side groaning the whole way,

"How did Yubashiri crack under that strike? Bellamy wasn't strong at all."

_"It wasn't Bellamy that was strong it was you, you put too much power behind the strike and didn't reinforce your blade in anyway leading to it being cracked."_

Zoro sighs,

"Well I should probably get another blade for now, Yubashiri shouldn't last much longer with such a large crack on it."

Ashura responds,

_"Yea, you could ask Decimation he might be able to duplicate himself, that should be able to give you a blade that would be of use until you get Shusui."_

Zoro grumbles,

"Hey Decimation can you do that?"

He doesn't get a verbal response but a new blade materializes in front of him, Zoro grins.

"You are one damn good sword."

He turns around when he hears the sound of footsteps rushing over, he sees the rest of the Strawhats all running towards him. They see Zoro and immediately question him,

"What happened?"

Zoro grunts out,

"A pirate attacked Cricket, I defeated him simple as that."

They just stare at him a moment before rushing to tend to Crickets wounds, Zoro shrugs his shoulders and heads towards their ship hoping to get some sleep before they get hit by the knock up stream. Nobody stops him so he continues on his way finally reaching the ship, he for once walks into the men's quarters and gets into his hammock something he has almost never done before.

"Should have been able to pull off Yggdrasil, I gotta try harder next time."

Sighing Zoro closes his eyes to sleep, sleep which didn't last long as eventually the Strawhats storm the ship with their loud laughter and yelling. Zoro groans and gets up from the hammock slowly trudging towards the door, finally exiting the room he glares at his crew who had just interrupted his sleep. They simply laugh at him and call him to join them in whatever weird activity they were currently doing, he shrugs them off and walks over to Nami.

"So when are we going to set sail?"

She lifts her head up from the map she was studying and answers,

"We should leave in about an hour or so, that's what Cricket says. If we leave then we should be just above the knock up stream when it happens."

He nods tiredly at her and heads to the back of the ship to train a bit before they set sail, this time prompting to train his pure strength rather than an ability. Though with his current strength as it is now the weights on the ship would do little to help him, though it wouldn't hurt to do some pure muscle training once in a while. After what seemed to be about an hour Zoro heads back to the main part of the ship,

"We gonna set sail yet?"

Nami turns towards him,

"Yea, go get ready this is going to be a bumpy ride."

Zoro sighs,

"Yea I know."

With that he walks to his post helping the rest set sail, it was a peaceful journey until they hear someone laugh.

"Zehahah, I didn't know there was a bounty on your head Strawhat!"

They look over and see a pirate ship heading towards them, Zoro looks at them and his face turns to one of disgust and he scoffs at the approaching pirates. Usopp brings out binoculars to look at them,

"Hey, guys they raised your bounties!"

This causes Zoro to perk up since last time this was his first bounty,

"How much does it say?"

Usopp moves to the bow of the ship to get a closer look,

"I-I think it says 170 Million Berries for Luffy and 140 Million Berries for Zoro!"

Luffy breaks into a happy dance while Zoro breaks into a smile though he had to wonder,

"Why did they increase it so much?"

Robin having heard him gives him a response,

"Maybe because of what happened with the demon Volron."

Zoro gains a thoughtful look,

"Hmm maybe."

With that they all hear rumbling from below them, peering over the side of the ship Zoro could only cringe at the whirlpool amassing below them,

"Everyone hang onto something!"

They all look at him confused before the ship starts to violently shake, their sucked into the whirlpool, with no control over anything they grip onto the closest thing they could and scream. With that the knock up stream shoots them up into the air, it was after a few moments when they shoot up above the clouds, they all look in wonder at the sight that before them. Before they feel their ship plummeting a bit, the screaming continues as Zoro prompts to hook one arm against the railing and plugs his ears, growing annoyed at all the screaming. Finally after what seemed like forever the ship stops moving, the Strawhats all groan in pain as they finally have a moment where they weren't moving. After recovering from what had happened they all stand up and look at their surroundings, everyone stares in wonder at the Sky Island not sure what do do with this situation. Zoro opted to meditate so to try adjust to the pressure at this altitude, this would be interrupted a bit later as he hears something explode, opening his eyes he looks towards the explosion to see Wiper with his bazooka slung over his shoulder racing towards them. Sighing he stands up and prepares to bat Wiper away from them, in no time Wiper jumps onto their ship to attack them, sending Sanji flying and Luffy smashing down onto the deck knowing what Wiper would do Zoro is prepared and blocks his strike. Swinging his blade outward so to send Wiper away, Wiper steady's himself and prepares to charge at the ship before Gan Fall arrives stopping him from attacking,

"Leave this ship alone Wiper!"

Wiper doesn't respond but turns and races away from them, the rest of the Strawhats sigh in relief while Zoro stares at Wiper's retreating figure and clicks his tongue. Gan Fall starts to explain a few things to them but Zoro decides that it would be better to take a nap than listen to him, since he's already heard this conversation last time. He is awakened from his nap a few moments later when he hears them calling out to him,

"Zoro, we're heading to the island there!"

He pops one eye open to look at them before groaning before standing up, he walks to the bow of the ship staring at the entrance into Angel Island. He sighs knowing he will have to deal with Enel eventually, though dealing with him would actually be very difficult, not because of him being a Logia, no because of the speed that his Devil Fruit gives him. He could only hope Jinsoku would allow him to keep with with Enel's speed, though he wouldn't get his hopes up since this was the someone who could move at the speed of light he was fighting against. They enter through heaven's gate and make their way to Angel Island finally docking closing enough most of the Strawhats hop onto the island hoping to explore it leaving just Zoro and Robin alone on the ship. They are silent as they watch the Strawhats explore the Island and play around in the water, finally Robin turns towards him and speaks up.

"So are you ever going to explain what happened at The Dark Refuge?"

Zoro yawns and cracks his neck,

"I don't believe I ever will, unless it really disturbs you that much I don't think I will ever tell you what really happened."

Robin simply sighs,

"Nevertheless shouldn't we enjoy our time here."

He turns towards Robin with a quizzical look on his face, she smiles back at him taking off her shoes and jumping into the water to join the rest of the Strawhats. Once she lands she turns towards Zoro one last time smiling at him before slowly walking off to join the rest of the Strawhats, Zoro watches as she slowly walks towards them, he sighs before dragging himself off the floor and slapping himself once. He then jumps of the ship and starts walking towards them, the Strawhats were having a lot of fun discovering everything that was on the island. They continue having fun exploring until they see Conis heading towards them, Zoro not wanting to listen to another conversation that he has already heard, he starts heading into the direction where he thinks Upper Yard is. Most of the Strawhats don't see Zoro slink away but they would notice his disappearance eventually, he slowly wanders through the forest slowly trying to find the Main Ruins of Shandora. Though this time around his sense of direction wasn't as abysmal he wasn't exactly a navigator, so finding it would still be very difficult since last time he found it he was just wandering around until he found it not knowing where he was most of the time. Finally having enough of walking he gives up and decides to train instead, he takes out the duplicate of Decimation and study's the blade carefully. He hasn't used this duplicate blade before though after a bit he determines that this ability would be very useful whenever he broke or lost a blade, he then unsheathes his other two blades and uses a tree as a target determined to train the Jinsoku ability. This was a simple ability but would be a very useful ability for not just his fight against Enel but just useful overall for any of his later battles to come.

"Jinsoku!"

Hoping to increase the speed even more Zoro uses the unbalanced terrain so that he would be able to adapt to any landscape, this proved to be more difficult as with the increased speed it was much harder to control where he would be heading. Which lead to Zoro slamming into a few trees and tripping over a few roots, groaning he picks himself off the ground and cracks his neck before walking to his fallen blades and sheathing them. Deciding that having his blades out may not be the greatest idea for this training, once sheathed he ready's himself again and races off again through the forest this time with more success in keeping himself steady. After a few minutes of running around the forest he stops to rest a bit, during this little period of rest he spots the sacrificial altar where their ship should be moved to soon enough. Deciding that moving around before ultimately returning to this spot later isn't the greatest idea, Zoro walks over to a tree close to the altar and starts meditating. He continued to meditate until he sensed the Going Merry slowly moving towards the altar, he hides himself behind a tree and watches as the priest move the onto the altar. The moment the ship is placed onto the altar the priest disappear without Zoro getting a word in, Zoro sighs,

"I'll deal with them later, we'll have to face them eventually anyway."

With that Zoro looks around for a way to get onto the ship after a bit of searching and coming up with nothing Zoro decided to swim over to the altar, thinking that the sharks wouldn't be too much of a problem this time he immediately jumps in. Exuding enough killing intent to scare the sharks away Zoro gets to the altar without any problem, once on the altar he climbs up and gets to the ship. He finds the Strawhats all passed out at various parts of the ship, sighing he takes a deep breath and yells.

"WAKE UP!"

Nami, Usopp and Chopper instantly jolt awake frantically looking around, Sanji groans and shakes his head, while Robin snaps her eyes open and stares at him. Leaving Luffy to be the only one to still be sleeping after Zoro yelled, at this Zoro sighs and walks over to Luffy kicking his head so to wake him up. Not getting much success Zoro gives up and directs his attention towards the crew,

"Do you guys have any idea where you are?"

They all shake their heads, sighing Zoro turns around and hops off the ship heading towards the bottom of the altar. Once again Zoro jumps into the water and swims towards the forest again leaving the rest of the Strawhats stranded on the boat, Nami calls out to him,

"Where are you going?"

Once he reached the forest he dries himself off and answers,

"Not gonna stay on the ship and be a sitting duck for the people that placed our ship there!"

He sits against a tree facing the ship, he watches as they discuss what to do in a slightly panicked state. He finally stands when he sees Robin grabbing the vine and swinging the distance between the altar and the forest,

"Took you guys long enough."

Robin smiles at him,

"Well not everyone can just swing across shark infested waters Mr. Swordsman."

He grumbles,

"When are you going to drop the nicknames?"

She gives him an innocent look,

"Whats wrong with nicknames Mr. Swordsman?"

He sighs,

"You don't trust us do you."

If she was shocked at his words she didn't show it,

"What do you mean?"

Her smiles was fake and it was obvious,

"Whatever you can do whatever you want, but I'm just saying you can trust us."

With that Zoro walks past her waiting for Nami to swing over, once she does he yells,

"Let go!"

She yells back,

"Are you crazy!"

He growls,

"Just trust me here!"

She didn't want to but Zoro had yet to disappoint so she complies screaming the whole way, when she starts falling Zoro rushes to catch her. He grins,

"Told ya to trust me."

Her face flushes and she smacks Zoro over the head, he growls.

"What was that for!"

Nami huffs,

"That was for making me do that."

He lets her go and walks over to the side,

"You're insufferable."

She grins at him,

"Thanks."

He groans at her,

"So what's the plan?"

She looks a bit unsure but still responds,

"We're going to split up, Chopper will watch the ship, Luffy, Sanji and Usopp will fan out and search the east side of the forest. The three of us will dot he same for the west side of the forest in an hour or so we return and inform the rest of the crew if they found anything, then after that we head out again and search the north and south sides of the forest if we haven't found anything."

He nods,

"Solid plan, lets get to it."

She grins at him,

"Well lead the way."

He grumbles but complies walking into the forest, they wander around for a while but don't find much. Slightly disappointed they return to the ship to find it being attacked, not one to waste time Zoro immediately jumps into the water so to swim to the altar the ship was resting on. Zoro climbs up to the ship to find the priest, who if he remembered right was name Shura, attacking Chopper and burning the ship. Growling Zoro unsheathes Sandai Kitetsu dead set on killing the man for not only harming the already damaged ship but hurting his friend, especially Chopper out of everyone. As much as he denies it he cared more for the adorable little doctor than he would show, rushing the man he prepares to strike him down. The man sensing Zoro's attack quickly directs his bird away, he turns towards Zoro and scoff.

"You can not land a strike on my swordsman, with the god Enel backing me and the abilities I possess you will not leave here alive!"

Zoro snarls at him,

"Your god Enel, well we're here to beat him up and your ability, I think you guys called it Mantra, yea I have that too."

Shura stares at him in shock,

"You can not defeat me I am a high priest of god!"

Zoro snarls at him,

"Enough talking just come at me already!"

Shura snarls back,

"Gladly!"

Zoro ready's himself before jumping towards Shura,

"Jinsoku!"

His body shoots forward and his blade locks with Shura's javelin, without a proper foothold something that Zoro should I have thought about first Zoro is easily pushed back. Landing onto the deck of the his ship he rolls so to avoid a strike from Shura seeing his opportunity he rushes towards Shura,

"Hiryu: Kaen!"

Almost immediately Shura's body burst into blue flames leaving a bloody and screaming man,

"Didn't your mother tell you not to play with fire."

Feeling really proud of the snide comment he knocks Shura out and kicks him into the water below, before he could even sheathe his sword hes tackled by a crying Chopper.

"Zolo! You sabed me!"

Zoro regains his balance and looks at the reindeer-creature that was currently attached to his hip,

"Uhh sure."

He goes to put out the flames that was on the mast, after he was down he turns around and shoots an annoyed look at Robin and Nami who were leisurely sitting on the side.

"Some help would have been great."

They simply smile at him, in return he grumbles and walks over to them.

"So what now, we have a few insane people in the forest attacking us. We can't just sit around and wait for them to come."

Before Nami could say anything they hear the sound of Enel's voice,

"Welcome Blue Sea dwellers and Shandians, welcome to the survival battle of Skypiea! I am god Enel and to those that survive this battle you will join me in Fairy Vearth, this will be a battle between the Blue Sea dwellers, the Shandian warriors, the former god Gan Fall and my priest!"

Nami and Chopper are scared by the booming voice which they couldn't find, while Robin simply raises an eyebrow at the so-called god. Zoro scoffs and mumbles to himself,

"Always hated his god complex."

Unlucky for him someone had heard him, Robin turns towards him and looks at him suspiciously.

"What was that Mr. Swordsman?"

Zoro quickly turns away,

"N-nothing."

Robin didn't buy it for a second but let him be for now, they had bigger problems to deal with. Nami was openly panicking about this battle and Chopper not exactly sure what was going on joined in on Nami's panic, finally having enough Zoro speaks.

"Stop panicking already, we'll deal with this Enel guy and be on our way. Don't have to get so worked up about it, I'm here so I'll make sure nobody gets hurt."

With that Nami seemed to finally calm down a bit, she turns towards Zoro,

"You sure you can beat him? He did say he was a god."

Zoro scoffs,

"We'll just have to see."

Not exactly content with his answer but knowing that there was little she could do about it she sighs,

"Well I think we should get going soon."

They all agree and get to moving the ship off the altar, well most of them anyway Nami was on the ship barking orders while Zoro was pushing the ship in the back, Chopper was pulling the ship with a string and Robin used her Devil Fruit to carry the ship so that it wouldn't scratch at the hull of the ship. After a few moments they get the ship on the water and set sail further into the island, Zoro lays on the floor of the ship resting after having to push an entire boat into water. Robin soon approaches him, without opening his eyes he asks,

"What do you want?"

She sits down beside him,

"You're right, I don't trust you guys."

He pops one eye open to looks at her, she smiles at him,

"But maybe I should start to do so."

With that Zoro grins and closes his eye again, finally feeling that things were going the way they should be.

_"Hahaha you really thought you could get rid of me that easily!"_

At that Zoro jolts up from his position causing Robin to flinch a bit, he looks around him not seeing anyone that the voice could have belonged to. But Robin speaks up,

"Zoro what happened to your eye?"

No sure what she meant he rushes to find a mirror once peering into said mirror he could only utter one thing,

"Well shit."

**That's a wrap this is an interesting arc for me there wasn't that many big moments for Zoro, so it might be a bit difficult for me to make an entire chapter on it though I will try my best. I don't think I'll throw in an OC villain for Zoro to fight every arc since the only thing I could think of would be more followers of the Demon of the Core or Volron, but they will be necessary for a few of the arcs so not to take away from Luffy's opponents. Along with that did you guys really think Volron was gone, Tamashi no Tojikome means Soul Entrapment(That's if google translate is right) so I never intended for Volron to be completely passed over after the battle. Honestly I didn't like how short the conflict between Zoro and Volron was so I'm adding this in since it doesn't involve a physical battle (Something which I still believe I'm shit at writing) but more of a mental conflict between the two. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going to go with this but we'll just have to wait and see. Once again if you are reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	20. The Self-Proclaimed God Enel

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Zoro sighs as he stares at his now red and black eye, Robin walks into the room.

"Zoro, why is your eye like that?"

He turns towards her and thinks for a moment,

"Don't worry about it."

He tries to walk past her but she stops him,

"We're your crew you can trust us."

He stares at her for a moment and nods but still continues pass her, this was a bit unsettling but he knew that defeating Volron shouldn't have been that easy this should have been expected of someone that was one of the strongest demons to ever exist. He sighs as he walks towards the back of the ship to meditate a bit,

_"Trapping him inside your body was the only way you could 'Defeat Him' but you should have known that he wouldn't be contained by your body that easily."_

Zoro grumbles at him,

"Yea I know you don't have to rub it in, but what's done is done all I can do now is strengthening myself so he can never escape. Or defeat him when he ever does escape, either one of the two is an options at this point."

Ashura doesn't respond but Zoro knew that he would have agreed, there wasn't much he could do in the way of stopping Volron right now, so he must get stronger and stronger so he could combat the demon if the situation were ever to arise. Standing up he grabs the broken Yubashiri unsheathing it, he study's the cracks in and grumbles at his own negligence. He sheathes Yubashiri and gets to training his Armament Haki, his progress was slowed since his attention was split towards something else for the past couple days, but his Haki by no means was weak. Though his main goal at this point was coating his entire body in it, he currently managed to cover most of his torso and neck, this wasn't bad progress but he wasn't completely satisfied with it he had hoped that he could have been able to coat his whole body by the time they enter Angel Island. He grumbles at this and continues with his training until he hears Enel's voice again this time not through his head but a few meters away from him on the ship. Taking a breather he walks towards the front off the ship hoping to see the so-called god,

"Why hello there Blue Sea dwellers, I am the god Enel!"

Chopper and Nami back away from Enel who was sitting on the railing of their ship, Robin doesn't back away like them but she seems wary of his sudden appearance.

"You will be participating in my game for Fairy Vearth, I am a participant too so it would only be natural for me to eliminate a bit of the competition."

He grins maliciously at them and points his spear at them, Zoro not going to let Enel attack them charges forward and bats his spear aside before jumping back. This makes Enel's grin drops a bit,

"You are quite an annoying man."

Zoro grins at him,

"Why thank you."

Enel's grin completely drops as his face adopts an expression of annoyance,

"Do not anger me mortal, I am a god if I wish for you to die you will die."

Zoro chuckles at him,

"Try me."

At that Zoro charges forward swinging Sandai Kitetsu at Enel, this strike passes right through him. Enel chuckles at this,

"Don't you see mortal I am a god you can not touch me!"

Rubbing his head Zoro responds,

"You're too damn annoying."

With that Enel drops any pretense of being calm and his expression grows to be one of anger.

"You will die mortal!"

Zoro ready's himself taking all three blades out and coating them in Haki,

_"Not exactly the greatest idea to fight a man made of lightning with you know metal swords."_

Zoro grumbles at him but still charges forward,

"Jinsoku!"

They clash sending sparks and electricity flying everywhere, Enel being the arrogant man he is doesn't do much to stop Zoro when he swing Sandai Kitetsu to his right arm. Imagine the shock when instead of passing through him like it usually does, Zoro's blade embedded itself into his arm. Jumping back Enel screams,

"What have you done! How are you able to harm me!"

Zoro brings the blade up to his face licking the blood off it,

"Now where's the fun in just telling you."

Enel's face darkens more and he moves to speak but he stops himself, he seems to be focusing on something else as the moment, finally after a few moments Enel turns towards them.

"You are lucky swordsman, if I didn't have more pressing matters to attend to I would have killed you where you stand"

With that Enel disappears in a flash of lightning leaving the Strawhats alone on the ship, Nami and Chopper both sigh in relief and collapse onto the floor. Robin giggles at them and spares a glance at Zoro, who let his Haki disperse and sheathed his blades. A slight frown marring his face,

"What's wrong Mr. Swordsman?"

Zoro turns towards her,

"Ehh it's nothing, I was hoping that I would be able to kill him there so we wouldn't have to deal with him later."

Robin nods at this,

"Don't worry about it we'll have to defeat him soon anyway, you not being able to finish the job this time won't have much effect on his imminent defeat."

Zoro sighs,

"Yea I know, but I still would have like to defeated him now."

She doesn't respond, Zoro turns towards her to see a very questioning expression on her face.

"What?"

She gives it a moment before speaking,

"What was the black substance in which you coated your blades with and was that what made it able for you to harm a Logia?"

Zoro rubs his face tiredly,

"Yea, that black substance is called Armament Haki and it was what allowed me to harm Enel."

She moves closer to him,

"Please do tell me more about this Haki."

Zoro takes a step back,

"U-uhm don't ask me about it, I-I'm not e-exactly sure about all the d-details."

His face was becoming more and more flustered by the moment and Robin seemed to enjoy the fact that she got a rise out of the usually stoic swordsman, Nami seeing this chuckles to herself and calls out to them.

"Let's focus on getting out of here first!"

Zoro turns towards her and sees her giving him a thumbs up, he groans at this and heads to his post. They peacefully sail for a while until they hear explosions ahead of them, atop the crows nest Zoro watches as Divine soldiers and Shandians alike both fight and fall. He keeps a watchful eye in case any of them try to attack their ship,

"Guys there are people fighting, I'd say we should keep away from them so not to get dragged into their fights."

They all agree with him and continue on their way but as their luck would have it that won't happen as a few moments later a Shandian rushes towards them, Zoro recognizes this Shandian as Braham the one he fought last time when he was at Sky Island. Not wanting to deal with his flashing guns again Zoro immediately draws Wado Ichimoji,

"Sanbyakurokuju Poundo Ho!"

The strike hits him but Braham moved fast enough to avoid a large part of the strike, making it so that only his left side was hit by the strike though the injury was still quite severe. Braham tries to talk through his injuries but Zoro doesn't allow him,

"Tch, Jinsoku!"

He instantly rushes towards Braham who was recovering from his earlier strike, he strikes the man down and sends him flying back into the forest. He hops back onto the ship and admires his handy work as the destruction that impacted the forest was clear as day, smiling to himself he sheathes Wado Ichimoji. He then climbs back up the crows nest so to keep watch of anymore enemies that may approach them, after that display none of the Shandians or Divine soldiers dare to attack the ship so the Strawhats enjoy a mostly peaceful journey. They finally come into view of Giant Jack Zoro looks around the ship to find that Robin had disappeared,

"Tch, that woman."

He sighs and turns towards Nami and Chopper,

"I think we should dock our ship and head out on foot."

Nami wanted to argue but if Zoro would go on foot than the safest place would be with him, she sighs and agrees with him. They find a secure spot and leave the ship there Zoro, Nami and Chopper head out and start walking towards Giant Jack. They don't come across anyone until they hear a voice from above them,

"Congratulation for getting this far Blue Sea dwellers but you have just entered my ordeal, the chance of survival is 0%."

They all look up and see one of the priest standing atop a building with a giant dog along side him,

"This is the Ordeal of Iron!"

Nami and Chopper gain confused looks while Zoro unsheathes Sandai Kitetsu ready to strike the man down,

"Just say your name, we don't care for your speech about how we can't defeat you and what not."

If Zoro's words had any effect on him he didn't show it,

"You are quite rude Blue Sea dweller, but you will not be able to run that mouth of yours soon enough. I am the priest Ohm and this is my companion Holy together we will defeat you and join our god in Fairy Vearth!"

Zoro grumbles at him,

"Fight me already your talking is starting to bore me."

The main directs his blade towards Zoro,

"Your arrogance will be your downfall swordsman!"

Ohm charges forward hoping to cut Zoro down quickly and move on to Nami and Chopper, this proved to be more difficult than he anticipated as Zoro didn't just block his strike but also overpowered him sending him a few feet back. Before Ohm could recover Zoro dashed forward hoping to lop the mans head off,

"Jinsoku!"

Ohm avoids the strike and takes his own blade bringing it down on Zoro, they lock blades for a moment before Zoro kicks Ohm away breaking the lock.

"You are more powerful than I anticipated that is all the praise I will give you swordsman."

Zoro grumbles,

"Do you ever stop running your mouth."

They clash again this time Holy joins in and tries to strike Zoro too, blocking Ohm's strike and avoiding Holy's, Zoro hops back.

"Two on one now that isn't fair."

They don't responds, at that Zoro unsheathes Sandai Kitetsu and ready's himself intent on ending the battle right there.

"Nigiri: Samon!"

The strike sends air-projectiles racing toward Holy striking him down, sparing a glance at his fallen companion Ohm growls,

"Attacking an animal like what, what kind of monster are you!"

Zoro grins darkly at this,

"Your pet attacked me and I'm the monster for defending myself?"

Nami and Chopper both look at him,

"Yea your a monster."

He face faults,

"Who's side are you guys on!"

They don't respond chuckling at his over the top reaction, sighing Zoro turns his attention back to Ohm.

"Now where were we?"

Ohm growls,

"I was just about to strike you down!"

With that he charges forward, Zoro chuckles at this,

"Sure, sure."

Zoro's gets into a stance and waits for Ohm to get within range,

"Nitoryu lai: Rashomon!"

The strike hits dead on tearing into the man but not killing him, seeing his job done Zoro sheathes his swords and walks past Ohm's fallen body heading towards Giant Jack. Nami and Chopper cautiously follow him unsure if Ohm was truly down but not wanting to be left behind by Zoro, he continues to walk until he senses something, turning his Observation Haki he discovers that Enel was about to send a lightning bolt down onto them.

"Jinsoku!"

He races to get Nami and Chopper out of the way but wasn't fast enough as the bolt strikes them both, leaving them unconscious. Zoro growls at this,

"This is what you get for challenging god mortal!"

Zoro grabs their bodies and races to find a safe spot to place them for now, after finding a somewhat secure spot he places them down. His anger was growing he growls as he walks, he heads towards the location where he had encountered Enel last time, when he arrives he find no one there. He decides to settle down in an abandoned building and wait for him to arrive, adopting a meditative state. A few moments later Wiper, Gan Fall and Robin all arrive, Zoro sighs as this was exactly what happened last time. He stands up and stretches a bit before exiting the building, the three of them turn towards Zoro all with wary expressions on their face. Before Zoro could get a word out Enel appears before them.

"Wonderful, you are the few survivors left of this battle, all you must do is join me in my journey to Fairy Vearth!"

That is until his gaze lands on Zoro, with that his face mares a frown.

"You on the other hand will die here, one does not harm god and get away with it."

The other three all spare Zoro a glance, but Zoro's face remains neutral. Enel seeing this as weakness proceeds to taunt him,

"What are you too scared to speak mortal, you must know that your divine punishment is arriving soon and you must be shaking in your boots!"

Zoro scoffs and unsheathes all his blades,

"Your not worth any words, lets just get to fighting."

Enel growls but before they could clash Gan Fall speaks up,

"Enel what happened to my followers!"

Enel turns towards Gan Fall,

"Ahh your militia, this morning they finished their job. Like I said the few people here are the only ones that are still standing."

At that Gan Fall gains an enraged expression,

"You fiend!"

Gan Fall charges towards him hoping to kill him, but Enel was much faster than him moving out of the way he strikes back.

"Twenty Million Vari!"

The attack renders Gan Fall unconscious, staring at Gan Fall's fallen body Enel laughs.

"Yahahahaha, now once I finish off the swordsman we will travel to Fairy Vearth!"

Robin decides to speak up,

"What if we refuse?"

Enel looks at her confused,

"Refuse? Why? I've already decided! If you refuse you will fall into the abyss with this country!"

Robin nods,

"True with your power it is possible. However if you destroy this country, the thing you want will also fall. No?"

Enel's confused expression turns to one of amusement,

"You mean the golden bell? Yahahahaha! Don't worry, judging from your earlier adventures, I can think of only one place where the bell could be."

Wiper and Robin both gain a look of shock,

"Looks like you're thinking what I'm thinking!"

Enel looks at them,

"You seem surprised! Did you think you could trick me and find it yourself? You underestimate me! How shallow!"

Enel points a finger towards Robin, Zoro knew what was about to happen.

"Jinsoku!"

He races to grab Robin, Enel's finger starts to spark.

"I don't like shallow women."

With that a beam of electricity shoots towards Robin, this time however Zoro was fast enough to reach her. He grabs Robin and pulls her to the side before the beam hits her, he carries her behind one of the houses around them, she stares at him in shock. Zoro cracks his neck and turns towards her,

"Stay here, I'll deal with him."

In her shock Robin could only nod her head as she watched Zoro walk out, she puts her hand to her chest to feel her rapidly beating heart. She sighs before smiling to herself,

"You are an amazing man Zoro."

With that Zoro walks towards Enel once again, his blades at the ready. Enel looks at him with an annoyed expression,

"You managed to save the women huh, don't worry once I'm done with you she will join you in the afterlife."

Zoro snarls at him,

"You aren't going to be able to do anything, I'll strike you down where you stand."

With that Zoro coats his blades in Haki and races towards Enel hoping to strike him down quickly, but as he anticipated Enel was proving to be much faster than him. Even with Jinsoku Zoro could barely keep up with him,

"You can not touch me mortal just give up and let me run you through!"

Zoro growls,

"Ashura anyway I could speed this up?"

But it wasn't Ashura that responded but Volron,

_"Pitiful, you can't even deal with a delusional man who claims to be god!"_

Zoro snarls at him,

"Can I or can I not speed this up, answer the question or get the hell out of my head."

He hears Volron scoff,

_"The only way to speed it up would be to overpower your system with even more demon energy but that comes with the risk of being completely taken by it."_

Debating whether or not to do so, Zoro continues his attempts to damage Enel. Enel's taunts were getting more and more and more annoying, thinking of one more options before powering Jinsoku more he charges in.

"Ashura no Kohai!"

The strike barely fazed Enel but with Wiper trying to get to him too it distracted him enough, Zoro dashes towards him.

"Rengoku Oni Giri!"

Enel reacted just fast enough to avoid the bulk of the strike leaving him with only minor cuts on his shoulders and hip, Zoro growls at this and jumps back to avoid Enel's strike towards him. Enel cries out for his blood,

"You despicable swordsman, for harming my body you will pay with your life!"

He taps the drums on his back,

"Sixty Million Volts Zyamubuuru!"

The strike lands tearing through Zoro left shoulder, Zoro jumps back and grabs his shoulder in pain. Enel finally seeing Zoro falter laughs,

"Yahahahaha, now you see how futile your actions are!"

Zoro steady's himself trying to stay standing, he turns towards Enel and sees him charging an ability. His eyes widen and he darts to find cover, but he isn't fast enough Enel's attack shoots out.

"God's Judgement!"

Zoro places his blades in the ground to act as lightning rods so that when the electricity strikes the energy will travel into the ground, so lessen a bit of the energy increasing the chances of him surviving and being able to stand afterwards. The energy hits him dead on consuming his entire body, Zoro can only grunt in pain as the energy courses through his entire body. The energy passes through him leaving a crackling Zoro behind it was taking all of his energy to just stand after that attack, Enel slowly stalks towards Zoro's shaking form grinning the whole way.

"Now you see mortal you never could have defeated me!"

Enel grabs Zoro by the neck and pulls him close to his face,

"Now die, 100 Million Volts Shock Release!"

The attack leaves a steaming but still conscious Zoro in his grip, Enel laughs and drops Zoro to the ground. He spears Zoro through the gut once then leaves to the Ark Maxim, once he disappears Robin pokes out from the building that Zoro placed him in. She sees Zoro's body crackling, steaming and bleeding out, she rushes over to him and tears his shirt so to cover up the wound in his gut. Touching him was also causing a few shocks to her but she ignores them so to focus on the dying swordsman, after a few minutes Zoro's body stop convulsing and he seemed to be unconscious. Robin sits down exhausted watching over Zoro's prone body, a few minutes later Zoro tiredly opens one eye and tries to sit up. Robin stops him by pushing him back down,

"Stop you need to rest."

Zoro groans in pain,

"God damn I hate that man."

Robin chuckles at him,

"Fighting him might not have been the greatest idea."

Zoro grumbles at her,

"Where's everyone else?"

Robin shakes her head,

"I haven't seen anyone else since we arrived here."

Zoro sighs and closes his eyes to sleep a bit, they sit in silence for a few minutes before Robin decides to speak up.

"Are you ever going to reveal your secret to any of us?"

Zoro pops one eye open and looks at her,

"Who's to say I haven't told anyone yet."

Robin quirks her eyebrow at this,

"You've told someone?"

Zoro closes his eyes and a smirk mares his face,

"Who knows."

She chuckles at this but she doesn't respond Zoro does,

"I will tell everyone someday, but not anytime soon, they will stay a secret until I deem it so."

Robin smiles softly at this,

"Then I will patiently await that day."

They sit there for a while until they hear someone yelling, Robin shuts his eyes to try ignore the yelling while Robin turns towards the direction where the yelling was coming from. Robin sees Luffy running towards them once he reached them he grinds to a halt and stares at them."

"Hah Zoro, Robin! Ahh Zoro what happened to you!"

Zoro opens one eye to glare at him it just so happened it was his red and black eye,

"Ahh Zoro your eye!"

Zoro closes his eyes and groans in annoyance,

"Shut up Luffy, I'm already injured don't need your yelling to also give me a headache!"

Luffy laughs at him,

"Ehh Robin where's Enel is?"

Robin points towards the direction of the where she saw Enel disappear to, Luffy turns towards her and smiles.

"Thanks!"

He goes racing off in the direction that Robin pointed in, Robin watches and giggles to herself. Zoro grumbles a bit and sits up,

"We should probably get going soon, don't want to be here when the place collapses."

She nods and gives him a hand, Zoro looks at the hand a moment before grumbling and straining himself to stand up. She just chuckles at him,

"You should have taken my hand."

Zoro glares at her,

"I'm fine I don't need your help."

Robin slaps him over the back and Zoro yelps in pain and over,

"What the hell was that for!"

She looks at Zoro with a neutral expression,

"I thought you were fine and didn't need help."

Robin offers her hand again, Zoro growls at her but this time takes her hand.

"Lets just get going."

As they slowly make their way back to their ship Zoro decides that to avoid anyone else asking about his eye he would just keep that eye closed like he did when he attained the injury against Mihawk in his past life. After a lot of walking they arrive at their destination, they didn't see anyone else on the ship.

"Shit, I forgot about Nami and Chopper. Enel blasted them a while back and I left them in a safe spot so I could go fight Enel!"

Robin chuckles at him,

"Don't worry about it I'm sure Miss Navigator and Doctor-san will be fine, you withstood three attacks from him I'm sure that they could take one easily."

Zoro grumbles and turns towards her,

"I won't be too sure about that, I'm going to go look for them."

He stands up to go looking for them but Robin slaps his back again causing him to once again yelp in pain,

"God damn it woman stop hitting me!"

She stares blankly at him,

"You're injured stop trying to push yourself, you'll only hurt yourself even more."

He grumbles at her but he knew that she was right, he was in no condition to do any type of strenuous activity. Sighing he lays down on the ground and closes his eyes to take a nap, Robin sits next to him and reads her book. They stay there for a while waiting for the other Strawhats to return, they stay there for about half an hour. After about half an hour they hear yelling and explosions, Zoro opens his eyes and shakily sits up to see who was yelling. Peering over the railing he sees Usopp and Sanji racing towards them,

"Hey where have the two of you been?"

They jump onto the ship before responding,

"We fought some other priests, now that's not the problem! Angel Island was destroyed and Giant Jack is collapsing, we gotta get out of here now!"

Zoro raises an eyebrow,

"What about Nami and Chopper?"

They pause for a moment before Sanji answers,

"I think they were heading to get Luffy."

He sighs and rubs his head tiredly,

"Yea we should get this ship out of here now."

They all man their post and in no time they left Upper Yard finding a spot far enough so that the collapsing Giant Jack wouldn't touch them they anchor down, watching the appearance of a giant electric Buddha like creature appear before being destroyed by a giant golden ball, they hear the Bell of Shandora ring. They all enjoy the beautiful sound of the bell until Luffy slams into the ship, they cough as dust envelops them. Zoro groans rubbing his head, he turns around and heads to the back of the ship to take a nap.

~A While Later~

He awakens when he feels Chopper and Luffy tugging at his legs,

"What do you guys want?"

Luffy grins at him but Chopper answers,

"You're injured we need to bandage you up or you might get an infection!"

He grumbles a bit,

"Fine."

They spend the next few minutes patching Zoro up, afterwards they leave him to join in the celebration between the Shandians and the people of Angel Island. Zoro slowly stumbles his way into the celebration and grabs some sake, he takes the sake to the side and drinks in solitude. His headache growing stronger and stronger by the minute, he growls in annoyance at the banging in his head.

"Stop messing with my head you damn demon, let me rest for one god damn day already!"

As loud as he was barely anyone heard him,

_"You will die and I will see to it that I am the cause of your death!"_

Zoro growls at him,

"A lot of people want me dead you aren't any different."

Volron chuckles at him,

_"I am one of the most powerful demons to ever exist, I doubt any marine could ever be even a tenth as powerful as I am mortal!"_

Tuning him out Zoro continues to drink, he was so immersed in what he was doing that he didn't even sense Robin approaching him.

"You don't seem all too happy Zoro."

Zoro jolts a bit at the sudden voice and snaps his head towards her,

"Jesus you scared me."

She smiles at him,

"Is something wrong, we just won and everyone is celebrating. But you're all alone brooding with a drink in your hand."

He grumbles at this,

"I got electrocuted three times then stabbed through the gut, I have a pounding headache right now and I haven't gotten a decent amount of sleep on a comfortable surface in a very long time."

She giggles at this,

"Fair enough."

They sit in silence for a moment before he turns to her slowly,

"Did you just call me by my actual name?"

She smiles at him,

"What if I did?"

Shaking his head a bit and smiling he responds,

"Nothing."

They sit in silence for the rest of the night as everyone partied till they collapsed leaving Zoro and Robin alone, Robin could only giggle at everyone's action while Zoro sighs at them. He stands up and drags all the Strawhats to one area leaving the people of Angel Island and the Shandians pass out where they were, finally after everyone was place Zoro turns around only to come face to face with Robin.

"Gah!"

She giggles at his reaction,

"I never did get to thank you for saving me from Enel's bolt."

Zoro calms down a bit,

"Ohh that what you wanted, it's fine you don't have to thank me, we're a crew we always watch out for each other."

She smiles at him and starts to walk past him but before she does he gives Zoro a kiss on the cheek,

"Thank you."

With that Robin disappears into the house, Zoro stands there frozen for a few moments before smiling.

"Maybe things can get better for me, though I don't want to jinx it."

**That's a wrap I kind of liked the way that this chapter turned out, could it be better probably but I'll take what I can get right now. I have a splitting headache so finishing this chapter proved a bit more difficult than I anticipated, at the end you could see me struggling a bit to finish it off but I think it was alright. Now on another note I'm developing the relationship between Zoro and Robin slowly since I don't want to change Robin's character too much and I don't see Robin as an outgoing lovey type of person. So I couldn't develop it at the pace in which I did with Nami, though it isn't exactly difficult it is to say the least different so I'm writing from a point I'm not exactly familiar with, but it should be fun this is a new challenge for me to take on. Along with that while I was eating dinner today two problems came up for me, at the current pace I'm going I should reach Wano Kuni by maybe early or mid April, that's my assumption. So once I reach there how should I develop the story or should I just stick with the source material that there is and work onward from then or should I start deviating the story a bit. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with it so I'm a bit uncertain on how everything should be done, but another problem that came up was how I would end this story. First off no, I'm not planning on ending the story anytime soon but I have to have an ending in mind and I've been putting it off for a while. So I've been trying to think of a decent ending for the story and a proper way to progress the story, I would love to hear if any of you have any ideas that could help me here. Once again if you're reading and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	21. The Ice-Man's Warning

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

The Strawhats were slowly floating back down from Sky Island, everyone seemed completely fine even after all the injuries they sustained. They would arrive at Long Ring Long Land island soon, this thought was putting Zoro on edge as he remembered that this was where they met Aokiji. Even though he was much stronger than he was last time he wasn't delusional enough to believe that he could take a Navy General at his current strength, there also isn't any guarantee that Aokiji would let them go this time, this thought was worrying Zoro. Every second they got closer was causing Zoro to get progressively more anxious about the situation, after a few hours the Going Merry finally touches down onto water. The ship slowly sails onward to Long Ring Long Land Island, it would take the Strawhats a full day before they finally reach the island. When they finally do arrive at the island it was night most of the Strawhats were already asleep, Zoro being one of the only ones still awake him being used to keeping watch each night. Zoro sighs as he stares at the island cautiously, his staring is once again interrupted when he hears someone walking towards him, turning his head he sees that it was once again Robin who was smiling at him. He turns back to the island,

"What do you want?"

She chuckles,

"Can I not enjoy some night reading?"

He grumbles at her answer and decides to ignore her, they sit in silence until the morning dawn. Zoro was about to doze off when Robin suddenly closes her book causing Zoro to jolt at the noise, he snaps his head towards her and glares. Robin simply chuckles at this before yawning and stretching herself, as much as Zoro wanted to deny it she was pretty cute, growling to himself for thinking about that he turns away from her. Robin notices him do this but decides not to comment instead prompting to giggle to herself, Zoro closes his eyes hoping to get a bit of sleep before the rest of the Strawhats wake up and start causing a racket. Which wasn't much after cause after a few minutes he hears Luffy,

"Let's explore the island!"

Grumbling to himself he covers his ears in an attempt to ignore the sound, this would have worked if Luffy didn't run jump and start shaking him.

"Wake up Zoro! Let's go explore the island!"

Zoro growls at him,

"Leave me alone!"

Luffy simply laughs at him before running towards the kitchen, Zoro grumbles at him before getting up and yawning. He tiredly walks towards the kitchen hoping to grab a snack before he returns to his nap, breakfast passes without any disturbances and Zoro moves to his spot by the railing. He groans as a few of his joints pop then proceeds to try sleep, but once again to his major annoyance he is disturbed. Popping one eye open he looks up to see Foxy's ship slowly closing in on theirs, sighing to himself he hops off the ship and walks into the island hoping that he would escape the stupid Davy Back Fight. He slowly wanders around the island until he finds a house that if he was correct belonged to an old man named Tonjit, sighing he goes looking for the bamboo sticks that the man should have been standing atop. After a few moments of searching around he finds them, stretching a bit before he takes his blades out and starts cutting at the sticks. He hears frantic yelling coming above but he chooses to ignore it and continues to cut the stick down, after a few more cuts a man starts to fall down. Zoro patiently waits until the man is close enough, he jumps up to catch him, the man getting over his shock starts to thank Zoro. Zoro waves his thanks away and walks over to the house sitting down to so to take a nap, for once Zoro could actually take a decent nap which he was very thankful for. He awakens about an hour later and decides to check on the rest of his crew and see how they were dealing with the Davy Back Fight, when he finally sees the Strawhats ship in view he also finds the Davy Back Fight still going on. He grumbles as he slowly approaches them nobody notices him until he's right behind them,

"Yo what's going on?"

Nami and Usopp jump at his voice, they instantly snap their heads towards him. Finally noticing who it is Nami starts yelling,

"Where the hell were you! While you were gone we lost Robin and Chopper!"

Zoro lazily looks at her before sighing,

"It's fine I'll get them back."

She growls at him,

"How!"

He grins at her darkly,

"I'll find a way even if it takes me killing a few people."

Nami shivers at his tone, she tries to speak but Zoro walks past her grinning like crazy. He unsheathes Sandai Kitetsu, he could already feel the blade shaking in anticipation for the possible bloodbath they were about to embark in, everyone stares as Zoro slowly walks forward. Once close enough he point Sandai Kitetsu at Foxy and grins maniacally,

"Hey old fox, lets forget all this Davy Back nonsense, let my crew mates go and no one gets hurt!"

Foxy looks at him before laughing,

"This is a Davy Back Fight the only fighting there is here is when we have the competition, even if you do decide to fight you wouldn't be able to defeat us. We are the infamous Foxy Pirates!"

Zoro chuckles to himself,

"Your funeral."

He charges forward and shoots off the back of one of the Foxy Pirates hopping to the balcony that Foxy was in, he places his blade right up against Foxy's neck. His grins widens even more,

"Don't make me ask again."

Foxy gulps as he stares down the grinning swordsman,

"D-don't do anything! If you hurt me all the p-pirates in my crew will come a-after you! N-none of you will survive!"

This just causes Zoro to grin,

"My crew mates or your life make up your mind, though I don't mind all your men coming after me, that'll just let me kill even more people."

After a few silent moments staring down the grinning swordsman Foxy relents,

"L-let them go!"

Foxy's crew let Robin and Chopper go, Chopper races back to Nami while Robin slowly walks back chuckling the whole way. Zoro sheathes his blade his grin never leaving his face,

"Now that wasn't so hard was it."

Foxy glares at Zoro but gulps when Zoro's hand slowly moves towards the hilt of his sword,

"Just get out of here you despicable swordsman!"

Zoro chuckles at this, he jumps down from the balcony and slowly makes his way back to the crew. He turns towards Nami,

"Told you I could handle it."

Nami sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose,

"Sure I'll give you that."

As much as Zoro's readiness to kill anyone unnerved some of the Strawhats they were still thankful that they got Robin and Chopper back, Zoro smiles softly as the Strawhats embrace each other. Sensing the Foxy Pirates moving about he turn around one hand already on the hilt of Sandai Kitetsu,

"It'd be best if you guys just leave us alone, don't want anyone to die now would we."

The Foxy Pirates all freeze, one of them opens his mouth to speak but Zoro doesn't let him.

"Jinsoku!"

In an instant Zoro close the distance between him and the pirate his blade close enough to draw blood from the man's neck,

"That wasn't a request."

The pirate in question could only quiver as Zoro opens his black and red eye,

"Do you truly wish to die today?"

The pirate couldn't answer as even moving slightly would cause the blade to dig deeper into his neck, instead Foxy speaks,

"We're leaving you damn swordsman, just let my crew go!"

Zoro grins at Foxy sheathing his blade,

"Then get going."

Foxy grumbles and calls for the rest of his crew to return to their ship, before they sail away they yell at the Strawhats one last time.

"Don't forget us, we'll have our revenge one day!"

Zoro simply chuckles at them, the rest of the Strawhats all turn to him.

"Where did you go?"

Zoro grins,

"Cut bamboo, found an old man, took a nap."

They all look at him for a second before smiling at him, Zoro leads them to the old Tonjit's place. When they finally make it there they are greeted not by Tonjit but by an enormous man clad in white clothing, at the appearance of this man Robin recoils while Zoro simply stares at him tiredly.

"Ararara nice to see you again Robin."

Robin steps back in fear causing the rest of the Strawhats all to be on edge at this man,

"Who are you!"

But it was Robin who responded,

"That's Aokiji the Blue Pheasant, he's one of the three admirals of the Marines!"

Most of the Strawhats take a step back in fear of the man before them,

"What are you doing here?!"

Aokiji rubs his head lazily,

"I'm here on a walk."

He yawns and lays down on the floor causing the Strawhats to sweat-drop at his lazy behavior,

"Plus I'm here just to observe and report this discovery, though you should be warned that with the inclusion of Nico Robin all of your bounties will increase drastically."

Zoro tunes out the rest of the conversation but still stays vigilant, he silently watches Aokiji as they lead old man Tonjit to the water. His nerves hit an all-time high as he watches Aokiji freeze the ocean for Tonjit to cross, he thinks to himself,

"Am I actually going to be able to stall this man?"

As they watch Tonjit cross the ocean Aokiji speaks up,

"Even though I only came to see Nico Robin, maybe all of you should just die here."

Most of the Strawhats all stare at him in shock and fear the only exception being Zoro who was steeling himself for a battle,

"The government isn't taking you guys seriously, but after carefully analyzing the situation, it has become obvious that you are a very determined group of individuals. Your group currently consists merely of a handful of rogues, yet judging from the degree of trouble you've been causing. There is little doubt that as time passes you will become an acute threat, in the time between the issuing of the first bounty on a member of your party to the present your growth, so to say, has been quite extraordinary and though you have so far limited yourself to fighting other pirates, I am concerned with what the future holds once you grow tired of your prey and search for new game."

Usopp screams at him,

"Wh-why are you saying all this! Aren't you only here for a walk!?"

Aokiji sighs,

"Your party is now especially dangerous because of you Nico Robin."

Luffy yells at him but Zoro ignores him to concentrate on the admiral in front of them,

"The size of your bounty does not reflect the threat your combat ability pose. It also gives to show how dangerous you are to the government. And even though you were only eight years old, you had such a high bounty put on your head. As a child, you were a true survivor. Betraying your partners using them as tools, after the recent feat of survival you have undertaken, are these the new tools that you have chosen to manipulate to achieve your goals?"

The Strawhats all yell their disagreements at Aokiji, he simply sighs at them,

"That woman's curse will bring that day to pass soon enough, here's the proof: every group that Nico Robin has ever associated with has ended up completely annihilated. Always leaving her as the sole survivor, why is that so, Nico Robin?"

Luffy yells at him,

"Shut up, you! What happened in the past doesn't matter!"

Aokiji spares a glance towards Luffy,

"I see you have earned the trust of these people."

Robin finally having enough,

What are you trying to do?! You want to arrest me? Come and get some! Treinta Flores!"

Most of the Strawhats try to stop her, while Zoro sighs and ready's himself for a fight.

"Clutch!"

Zoro watches Aokiji's body fall apart knowing what was about to happen, silently he activates his Armament Haki. Aokiji reforms from the broken shards of ice,

"That was a bit harsh wasn't it?"

Not going to give Aokiji any time to recover Zoro charges forward,

"Jinsoku!"

Aokiji's eyes widen slightly as he sees Zoro quickly approaching him with a Haki covered blade,

"You can use Haki?"

He instantly summons his Ice Saber and locks blades with Zoro,

"Yea so what if I can?"

Aokiji sighs,

"Nothing, it's just surprising to see someone use in in Paradise. But then again you were never a normal pirate now were you?"

Zoro growls instead of responding, he disengages and yells at the Strawhats,

"Guys, get out of here now! I'll hold him off for now, but you guys need to get out of here now!"

Luffy didn't take this well,

"No, we'll take him together!"

Zoro growls at him,

"Enough, Luffy don't be an idiot for once! This is a Marine Admiral even with all of us together we wouldn't be able to defeat him, get out of here now and we might all walk away from this with our lives intact!"

Luffy freezes when he sees the expression of dread on Zoro's face, he gulps and his face drops a bit but he complies calling to the others,

"Everyone head back to the ship!"

The rest of them start running back to the ship, Aokiji notices this,

"Ararara having you guys escape would prove to be quite troublesome."

Aokiji disappears from Zoro view causing him to snap his head towards his crew, he activates his Observation Haki to try find him. He find Aokiji quickly making his way towards Robin, he growls to himself and charges after him.

"Don't think I'm just going to let you hurt my crew!"

Aokiji got to Robin before Zoro could stop him he starts to freeze Robin's body only to disappear again when Zoro brings his blade down on the spot where Aokiji was, Zoro growls,

"Get out of here now, you don't have the time to just stand around!"

Robin nods at him before racing towards their ship, finally with his crew gone and turns his attention back to Aokiji.

"Shall we resume our battle?"

Aokiji sighs putting himself in a lazy battle stance,

"You won't be able to last long against me swordsman."

Zoro grimly responds,

"I know."

Aokiji looks at him oddly,

"Then why do you fight?"

Zoro grimly smiles at him,

"To protect those I care for!"

Aokiji studies the man before him, he was an oddity in this pirate world. He was much too powerful for a man from the East Blue and knew things that many much older pirates barely knew, he narrows his eyes at Zoro.

"You are a odd man I will give you that, but this will be your resting place."

Zoro chuckles darkly at him,

"I can't die in a place like, not until I defeat Mihawk!"

With that Zoro charges forward at the Admiral bring his blades down hoping to strike the man down, but he knew that no matter how much effort he put into it right now he wouldn't be able to defeat him. When their blades clash and Aokiji disappears after it Zoro growls,

"Ashura no Kohai!"

The ground breaks up after his attack causing Aokiji to reappear a few feet away from him, once he gains a good footing Zoro charges in for another attack,

"Ashura Hakai!"

The strike barely gets past Aokiji's guard only causing a nick on Aokiji's cheek, Aokiji jumps back and touches his wound,

"You are more powerful than I expected."

Zoro grunts at him,

"I'll take that as a compliment."

This time Aokiji moves forward for an attack, instantly putting Zoro on defense. His strikes were to powerful and fast, Zoro could barely keep any of them from tearing at his body.

"Gah!"

Aokiji watches curiously as Zoro stops completely and grips his closed eye,

"Leave me alone you damn demon, I have other problems to deal with right now!"

It takes a moment but Zoro finally stops shaking in pain, Aokiji looks at him oddly,

"That was quite odd."

Grunting Zoro responds,

"Don't worry about it I can still fight."

Aokiji chuckles at him before his adopts more serious expression,

"With you as powerful as you are, I don't believe I could let you leave alive."

His vision slowly being covered in dark spots Zoro responds,

"I never expected you to let me leave alive, but at least let my crew go."

They stare each other down for a moment before charging forward, their blade strike relentlessly at each other for a few moments before they both jump back. Aokiji was barely winded but Zoro was slowly become more and more exhausted his breaths were more like pants at this point, Aokiji notices this,

"I don't think you could last much longer swordsman."

Zoro snarls at him,

"Yea I won't, Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

Aokiji watches in amazement as Zoro grows limbs and two heads,

"Quite an interesting ability you have there."

Zoro was shaking from exhaustion and pain but could still respond,

"This is the final strike, lets stop talking and get to fighting."

Aokiji narrows his eyes at Zoro,

"Very well."

He coats him blade and arm in armament Haki,

"Come swordsman!"

Zoro growls at him,

"Ashura Hakai: Ajimasuburesu!"

"Frozen Torment!"

They stand backs facing each other for a moment before Aokiji's blade shatter and Zoro drops to the ground his Ashura form already dissipated and frost starting to grow rapidly onto his body. Aokiji turns towards Zoro's fallen body,

"This trip has been quite a surprise to me and I have you to thank swordsman."

Aokiji slowly walks away studying the few cuts he has on his body,

_"Do you think this was all that there was going to be mortal?"_

Aokiji snaps his head towards Zoro only to see his body slowly being coated in a black flame and him slowly stand up,

"Why are you still standing swordsman?"

He scoffs at Aokiji,

_"Do you think I am that pitiful swordsman! I am the great Demon of the Core, Volron!"_

Aokiji narrows his eyes at Zoro who was now being possessed by Volron,

"I don't follow."

Volron scoffs at him,

_"I didn't think a simple mortal could understand the grandiose being that stands before him anyway, so let us do this on terms that you do understand. As pathetic as this vessel is I will not allow you to disgrace me!"_

Aokiji stands on guard as he once again goes into battle with the swordsman but this time he wasn't as certain about his victory.

~A While Later~

Luffy and Sanji are running towards the the mass of ice that was created from Aokiji and Zoro's fight,

"Hurry up Sanji!"

Sanji doesn't respond but continues sprinting towards their destination, after a few moments they arrive at their destination finding the area completely decimated, they pause for a moment to stare at everything to before starting to search for Zoro. They don't find Zoro until they move further into the center of the chaos, they freeze for a second to look at the condition Zoro was in. Sanji stutters out,

"I-Is he even a-alive in there?"

Luffy ignores Sanji as he races towards Zoro who was encased in a giant block of ice, Luffy pulls his fist back ready to punch the block but Sanji stops him.

"If you break it you could shatter him too!"

Luffy turns towards him with an unreadable expression of his face, they both silently agree that they would have to bring the block of ice containing Zoro back to the ship and thaw it there. When they start to drag the block of ice they notice that Zoro's eyes were both turned black and red something they only saw once and those eyes were darting around inside the block of ice like a crazed dog, they decide to ignore it for now so to bring the block to the ship as quickly as possible. When they finally get within view of the ship the rest of the crew run towards them and stare in shock at Zoro's condition, they all turn towards Luffy and Sanji,

"What happened?"

They simply shake their heads indicating that they didn't know, they look up towards the ship to see Robin watching them with a scared expression on her face. They turn away from her so to start thawing Zoro out hoping that they weren't too late to save him.

~Two Days Later~

Zoro tiredly opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling of the room he was in, groaning he tries to sit up but finds his body still completely exhausted from the battle with Aokiji. Sighing he lays back down and closes his eyes to get a bit more rest, for once he was allowed to do this sleeping for what he would have assumed were a few hours at best. He is awakened later by the footsteps of a small creature, popping one eye open he looks around for the person responsible for the sound and he spots Chopper. Sighing to himself he tries to sit up again to greet him,

"Yo Chopper."

Chopper not expecting him to be awake jumps back in shock,

"Z-Zoro!"

Zoro groans at this,

"Don't yell I have a headache."

Chopper races out of the room and calls the other Strawhats, after a few moments the rest of them come rushing into the room annoying Zoro greatly. Nami was the first one to speak,

"What the hell were you thinking, you can't take on an Admiral!"

Zoro growls at her,

"Stop with the yelling, I have a headache right now for gods sake."

Nami looks a but embarrassed by this but continues questioning him,

"What happened?"

Zoro sighs,

"We fought, I lost simple as that."

That wasn't the answer she was looking for but Zoro wouldn't let anything else out, Chopper decides to speak up this time,

"You're lucky to be alive, you were completely encased in a block of ice."

At this Zoro narrows his eyes, he didn't remember this part. He remembered them clashing and him losing but everything after that was a bit blurry, but he knew that we wasn't just laying on the ground he could feel his body moving even though he wasn't willing it to do so. He files that information away and brings himself back to the current situation he was in,

"Where's Robin?"

The Strawhats all pause for a moment looking at each other,

"She's in the girl's quarters, she hasn't left it since we returned to the ship."

Groaning Zoro tries to stand up, Chopper stops him,

"Stop you're still injured you should rest."

Zoro grumbles at him,

"I'll be fine, I can take a hell of a lot more than be completely frozen."

They wanted to argue and stop him but Zoro was already stumbling pass them, he was slowly making his way towards the girls quarters to find Robin but when he was about to reach the door Sanji stops him. Zoro spares a glance at him,

"What?"

Sanji taps his cigarette before speaking,

"I think it would be better if we just left her alone for now, some people take time to open up and even longer to recovered from something like this. You would know this yourself."

Zoro grumbles at him,

"I know what I'm doing cook."

Sanji sighs at lets go of Zoro,

"Just don't screw anything up."

Zoro glares at Sanji before turning back towards the door of the room and entering the room, the room was dark and he could barely see anything. Zoro sighs and searches around for a light, but before he could he hears a voice come through the darkness,

"What are you doing here?"

Zoro finds a light and takes a seat across from her,

"I'm here to check on you."

She sighs,

"Why would you check on me, you were the most injured one out of the whole crew."

Zoro grumbles,

"Yea, I know but I'm not not talking about how you are physically, I'm here to see how you're holding up mentally. Can't be easy on anyone when they get visited by an Admiral that had a large part to play in their past, add the fact that he just tried to kill you won't make anything better."

Robin stares at him oddly while he stares back at her with a neutral expression on his face,

"How do you know that I have a past with him?"

Zoro chuckles,

"I would say I figured it out, but you wouldn't buy it for a second would you."

Robin slowly nods,

"This isn't something you can just figure out."

He looks at her with a unbelieving look,

"It actually wouldn't be that difficult for someone to just figure it out themselves, but that isn't how I knew."

She grips her hands tighter as she continues with this conversation,

"Then how did you know?"

Zoro sighs,

"You know that I won't tell you."

For the second time that week Robin loses her cool,

"Than what was the point of you being here?!"

Zoro hardens his gaze,

"I came to check if you were alright, if we wanted me to leave you could have simply told me to."

Zoro stands up and heads towards the door,

"I'm not pushing you to do anything you don't want to, I'm just here to check if you were alright after what happened."

He exits the room leaving Robin to sit in silence trying to calm herself down after her outburst, she holds her head as she try's to stop herself from breaking down. Zoro closes the door behind him sighing, he slowly makes his way towards his usual napping spot by the railing of the ship.

_"You humans are detestable."_

Zoro sighs as he recognizes the voice,

"Why are you in my head again?"

Volron scoffs,

_"You think I want to be in here, when you used that wretched ability of your. You separated my body from my power, all I can do is bide my time and wait for my powers to recover."_

Zoro chuckles at this,

"And you think I'm just going to let you do that?"

Volron growls at him but doesn't respond, but then a question popped into his head,

"Hey, what happened to Ashura? I haven't heard from him in a while."

Volron growls yet again,

_"You think the God of Demons has time to watch over a pitiful human like you."_

Zoro chuckles at him,

"Sure whatever you say."

He sits down and closes his eyes hoping to take a nap for the time remaining until they arrive at Water 7, he remains mostly undisturbed until Robin finally leaves the girls quarters a few hours later. She receives a warm reception from the rest of the crew, Zoro smiles at this before returning to his sleep hoping to be able to rest easy until they finally reach Water 7. This would go fine until he hears the Strawhats yelling at something, popping one eye open in annoyance Zoro looks at what they were yelling at. He sees them all yelling at a frog that was swimming like a person, Zoro chuckles at this a bit before racking his brain trying to remember when this happened. He doesn't need to think for long as the sound of an incoming train instantly jogs his memory, he smiles darkly as he stares at the train.

"We're getting pretty damn close to Enies Lobby, it's almost time to raise a whole new level of hell upon this world."

With his eyes shining darkly Zoro walks to join the rest of the Strawhats.

**That's a wrap this was an alright chapter in my opinion, though for the Water 7/Enies Lobby chapters I'm going to take a few main parts completely from the canon. I always saw Enies Lobby as one of my favorite arcs in the whole One Piece narrative so I don't want to take away from it too much, though it might be shot down a bit with the appearance of Wano Kuni, but we'll have to see. Though I believe that the conversation between Zoro and Robin after Zoro wakes up from the fight with Aokiji could have been better though this is the best I could think of for the moment. I'm also coming up with ideas for yet another Zoro Volron conflict, this time I'm hoping that it would be better than the Sword of Promise and Destruction. So you guys can look forward to that, though I think that once I reach Sabaody I'm going to deviate from the canon story a bit but not exactly, I'll be throwing a few mini stories in there maybe one major one before returning to the canon story line. No exactly looking forward to it but I believe that it would be necessary for the story. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	22. The Sinking City

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

The Strawhats arrive at Water 7 without a hitch thankfully, Luffy along with Nami and Usopp go to exchange the gold that they had gained on Sky Island. Sanji decided to stay and watch the ship, that left Zoro, Chopper and Robin. Chopper wanted to go into the city to see if he could find any medical supplies, Robin had prompted tag along with Chopper. Zoro remembering that this was when she had disappeared had also decided to tag along with them, with the goal of keeping an eye on Robin. They make their way through the town with Chopper running around and staring at the many things in awe, Robin chuckles at this and turns towards Zoro. She stares at him as his face never changed from his usual annoyed scowl, her smile never wavers for a moment as the swordsman lazily follows after her. Zoro follows her as they walk through the streets of Water 7 all seemed fine for the most part until Robin freezes for a moment, he turns towards her to see what was wrong only to see her nervously staring into an alley. He turns towards the alley to catch only a glimpse of a man in a mask before he disappeared, narrowing his eyes Zoro activates his Observation Haki hoping to figure out where the man went. He only senses the man quickly retreating away from them, he glares at the direction in which the man disappears before turning back towards Robin. Noticing his gaze Robin turns to look at Zoro, she puts on a fake smile hoping to put him off from thinking that anything was wrong. He narrows his eyes before sighing,

"I can see right through your smile Robin."

At that Robin's smile falters a bit, Zoro sighs rubbing his head,

"I know I'm not one to talk about secrets but what you're about to do isn't a good idea."

She turns towards him only to see him putting his hands behind his head and sighing as he walked past her,

"The crew will always be there for you just remember that."

He disappears among the many citizens of Water 7 leaving Robin alone with her thoughts, deciding that Robin will decide on things by herself Zoro heads towards the Franky House hoping to catch the thieves before they waste the two hundred million berries that they stole from the Strawhats. It would take him close to an hour to find it as Water 7 proved to be a bit of a maze for him, after reaching his destination he goes into a meditative stance so to collect nature energy. He would be able to do so for a about half an hour before the few members of the Franky Family that had robbed Usopp appeared,

"Heyo Swordsman this is the property of Big Bro Franky, you better get out of here now or we'll kill you dead."

Zoro pops an eye open to look at them, sighing he stands up and unsheathes Sandai Kitetsu pointing it at the men,

"Were you the guys that beat up Usopp and stole two hundred million berries from him?"

The men all chuckle with proud grins on their faces,

"Yea we did, that long-nosed kid didn't know what hit him!"

They all laugh, Zoro turns towards them with a dark grin on his face,

"Right on time I guess."

They all look at him oddly,

"What you talkin bout Swordsman?"

Zoro doesn't respond as he rushes towards them and knocks out all but one of them, the last one stumbles back yelling at Zoro,

"Y-you won't get away w-with this we're p-part of the Franky Family! Big Bro F-Franky will have revenge for u-us!"

Zoro chuckles at him,

"I'm not worried about that."

With that Zoro knocks the last one out to, stretching a bit to loosen up the few muscles that were tense. He grabs the two briefcases with the berries and starts heading back to the Strawhats ship, if would be a few moments before he would arrive at the ship and once he finally does he finds only Sanji to be on the ship.

"Oy Marimo where did the briefcases come from?"

Zoro glares at him,

"Couple of idiots in diapers beat up Usopp and took the money from him, I simply went and got it back."

Sanji quirks his eyebrow at him,

"Diapers?"

Zoro groans at him,

"Don't ask."

He throws the briefcases at Sanji,

"Go take that back to Nami and Luffy, I'll keep watch of the ship now."

Sanji fumbles a bit with the briefcases before nodding at Zoro and running off to find Nami. Zoro sighs as he sits down on his spot by the railing,

"Wonder how long I have to wait before shit hits the fan."

This time it was Ashura instead of Volron who responded,

_"Should be soon enough if your memory serves you right."_

Zoro jolts up,

"Where the hell have you been? It's only been Volron who's been responding to me lately!"

Ashura sighs,

_"I had things to do."_

Zoro grumbles at him,

"Sure."

With that he leans back onto the railing and closes his eyes, he was trying to relax before the impending battle with CP9 but the though of destroying Enies Lobby and defeating all the agents of CP9 was such an exciting prospect to him. He was barely able to keep his excitement down when the rest of the Strawhats return to the ship, with Robin as he anticipated missing. Luffy runs towards him,

"Hey Zoro when did you find the guys that beat up Usopp?"

Zoro chuckles at him,

"I accidentally ran into them."

Luffy laughs at his answer before running off to do god knows what, while Nami gives him a knowing look. He sighs at this standing up to head towards the back of the ship, if he had time to kill he would use it to train, being complacent was never a good thing especially with what he was hoping to achieve. Being fine with the current progress of his Haki and the degree of control he had over the Soul Devouring Flames he prompts to train with something he hasn't done before, with that in mind he calls upon the Exiled Warblade: Decimation. It took a moment but the blade finally materialized into his hand, he studies the blade before smiling,

"This is a fascinating blade, do you have anymore like it?"

Ashura doesn't respond,

"Hey, Ashura I'm talking to you."

Ashura grumbles at him,

_"I have many powerful blades and I handed you one of the most powerful ones and what you want is more, how greedy can you get?_

Zoro grumbles at him,

"That's not what I meant, I'm just asking if you had more blades like this."

Ashura chuckles,

_"This is the only one of it's kind but I have a few other blades that are close to the strength of Decimation, though I would never bring all of then together."_

This causes Zoro to pause,

"Why?"

Ashura sighs,

_"Nothing good would come from the blades being brought together."_

Deciding not to question him about it he brings his attention back to Decimation,

"Let's get this started then, Tamashi no Fujikome!"

The blade once again was merged with Zoro changing him into the form he had used against Volron on the Dark Refuge, this time since he wasn't in a fight for his life he had the time to study this form of his.

"Black armor and a cape? Nice, though I don't think a cape is really a logical idea."

Of everything he didn't expect Decimation to actually respond,

"But it looks cool!"

Zoro recoils at the sudden intrusion in his mind,

"Ehh, don't just speak up like that all of a sudden. But damn with you here that adds up to three voices in my head."

Decimation chuckles at him,

"Isn't it nice you'll never be alone!"

Zoro grumbles at the blade,

"I prefer to be alone."

Decimation continues to laugh at him,

"Ohh edgy!"

Zoro sighs at him,

"Leave me alone for now at least."

He couldn't see it but he could feel Decimation pouting, if a blade could pout to begin with. Shaking his head from the insane thoughts Zoro gets into a stance that concentrates on the blade in his hand, his concentration is broken when he hears footsteps converging onto his location. He turns towards the sound to see Nami and Sanji staring at him with cautious gazes,

"Don't worry about it, I'm just training."

They nod at him before heading back to the main area of the ship leaving Zoro alone, he brings the blade up and concentrates on coating Decimation with the Soul Devouring Flames finding it quite easy to do so. He then suddenly gets struck by an idea, grinning madly he walks to the edge of the ship.

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

The strike delivers a fireball of flames hurtling outward, Zoro grins to himself before a voice interrupts him,

_"You idiot! Don't just go throwing the flames around like that!"_

Zoro groans at the sudden voice in his head,

"I was just testing an idea out, don't need to yell at me for it."

Ashura huffs but doesn't respond, Zoro returns his attention to the blade in his hand. Knowing not to play with the flames that much he prompts to practice his Ittoryu, this would be perfect considering the very powerful blade in his hand. This should be a great chance to explore and see what else the blade had in store, his training continues into the night and isn't disturbed until he hears someone yelling on the main part of the Strawhats ship. Taking deep breaths to try help his slightly exhausted and sweaty body he slowly walks towards the main area of the ship, finally taking a look around he sees that it was Usopp yelling at Luffy. He sighs at this knowing exactly what was happening, Usopp tries to storm past Zoro but Zoro stops him from getting any further. Usopp turns his attention towards Zoro,

"Let me go!"

Zoro looks at him with a dangerous glint in his eye,

"Don't do anything that you would regret."

Usopp glares at him and is about to speak when Zoro tightens his grip on his shoulder silencing him, he speaks in a much quieter tone which only Usopp could hear.

"Do anything that could bring harm to this crew and I will personally kill you."

Those words cause Usopp to freeze and look at Zoro in fear, but once Usopp is released he continues on his way but this time with a bit less anger in each step. Zoro grumbles as he watches the events unfold slightly differently from last time but still ending up with the same results, they all leave the ship so not to stir up any more trouble between them and Usopp. The rest of the Strawhats would head to a hotel while Zoro would fade into the streets hoping to find a private area where he could train until the inevitable arrival of CP9, he prompts to once again head to the outskirts of the Franky House. He would be able to meditate and train there for the most of the night and morning undisturbed, nothing interesting would happen until later during the next day when Franky himself would come forth and confront Zoro.

"Yo I heard yous the swordsman that hurt my bros!"

Zoro pops an eye open to look at him,

"What if I am?"

Franky pushes his shades further up his head and tries to intimidate Zoro,

"Then I'm gonna have to pay ya back for hurting my bros!"

Zoro sighs and stands up giving Franky a lazily look with a dangerous glint in his eyes,

"Back off before you piss me off."

Franky gives him a wicked grin before going for a punch,

"Strong Right!"

Zoro sighs and brings the duplicate of Decimation up to block the strike from Franky,

"I don't want to kill you but hurting you just a bit wouldn't be too bad."

Zoro angels the metallic fist down and charges forward, he didn't like to hold back against an opponent but Franky was going to part of their crew at the end of this so killing wouldn't be a good idea. Grumbling he swings his blade and contacts with the dull side of the sword, putting a bit more power behind it the strike sends Franky flying back. Zoro stretches a bit before slowly walking towards Franky's downed body, Franky groans as he gets up glaring at Zoro.

"I'm gonna kill ya!"

Franky flips his left arm to reveal a gun within his arm and fires at Zoro, Zoro sighs as he deflects and dodges the bullets that come towards him. He gets close enough to Franky and stabs his blade down right next to Franky's head,

"You robbed and beat up my friend, so how am I in the wrong here?"

The grin on Zoro's face told Franky that he shouldn't respond,

"You're lucky, if you were anyone else I would have killed you right here."

He pulls his sword out of the ground and sheathes it walking away from Franky,

"You should be careful, they're coming for those blueprints soon."

With that Zoro leaves Franky's territory and heads towards the city, instantly the moment when some citizens see him they scream for help. He groans as he forgot that Robin had tried to assassinate Iceburg, he takes off running towards Iceburg's mansion avoiding all the citizens that were running away from him and those that were hoping to capture him. He was trying hard to shake them off unsuccessfully until he's suddenly pulled into an alley, he puts his hand on the hilt of his swords ready to cut down the person who had grabbed him. He relaxes when he notices that the person that grabbed him was Nami.

"Where have you been?"

He looks around before answering,

"Around."

His answer infuriated her,

"You were missing and you weren't there when so many things happened."

He looks at her with a neutral expression on his face, it takes a moment but she slaps her head in annoyance.

"I forgot, you're from the future."

He grins at her,

"Exactly, so technically I didn't miss anything."

She groans at him but Zoro continues,

"We should head to Iceburg's mansion, somethings going to go down there and we need to be there."

She sighs at him,

"How are we going to get there, everyone's looking for us now."

He grins at her,

"Trust me."

She didn't like the grin on his face and yelps when Zoro grabs her and carries her in his arms,

"W-what are you doing?!"

He studies his surroundings before answering,

"Getting us there fast, Jinsoku!"

With the boost from Jinsoku he quickly hops onto the roof of the building and starts jumping from building to building quickly making way towards Iceburg's mansion. He turns towards Nami,

"Hold on it's going to get rough!"

She snaps her head towards him,

"Ehh?!"

With a giant leap he shoots forward slamming into Iceburg's window entering the room, he growls once he sees that Lucci was already there. He puts Nami down and unsheathes all three of his blades,

"So you guys got here fast."

None of them answer and Zoro groans,

"Drop the masks already, I know who you guys are, CP9 isn't as secretive as you think it is."

At that the masked people drop the mask, Lucci speaks up,

"Demon Wind Zoro, we had not expected you to come crashing through the window but nevertheless you will not stop us from reaching our goal."

Zoro chuckles at this,

"Not the first person to ever say that to me."

He finally remembers that Nami was in the room with him,

"Nami, grab Iceburg and get out of here now!"

She freezes and looks at him,

"M-Me?"

Zoro growls,

"Did I stutter!"

Nami nods rapidly and grabs Iceburg.

"H-How are we going to get out?!"

Zoro grins maniacally,

"Give me a second and I'll create the opening!"

Lucci scoffs,

"You are not powerful enough to stop us Demon Wind."

Zoro ignores him,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

He merges with the blade once again, knowing that he was able to take most of them was a comforting thought. Though getting Nami and Iceburg out of here while keeping CP9 back might prove to be a bit difficult,

_"Not a great idea!"_

Zoro chuckles,

"When have I been known for good ideas, Kaitai Ryusei!"

The fireball barrels towards the members of CP9 surprising them,

"Nami go!"

They falter for a second but recover quickly, they start running through the opening that Zoro had created. Kaku sees this and races towards them to try stop them only to be stopped himself when Zoro appears in front of him slashing at his neck, seeing this strike Kaku jumps back. He then calls to Kalifa,

"Chase after them, we'll deal with this troublesome swordsman!"

Kalifa nods and starts to head towards the exit, Zoro races towards her hoping to stop her but is stopped by Lucci who swung his leg to Zoro head and Kaku who had taken out a blade hoping to decapitate Zoro. Using the duplicate of Decimation and Sandai Kitetsu, Zoro blocks their strikes and pushes them back. But Blueno opens a gate above him bringing a strike down at him causing Zoro to roll back to avoid it, he growls,

"If she dies, I'll take my sweet time torturing every last one of you!"

This much to his sick pleasure causes the members of CP9 to hesitate a bit before steeling themselves, Blueno speaks up,

"You can't defeat us we have mastered all six arts of Rokushiki. Your body can not compare to ours."

Zoro snarls at him,

"Less talking more fighting!"

He charges forward hoping to take their heads but they all used Soru to disappear, Blueno appears a few feet behind his initial spot cockily smiling at Zoro.

"Tekkai, try to hit me now!"

With a sick laugh Zoro charges forward and spartan kicks Blueno causing him to cough up blood and sending him flying through the walls behind him. Lucci and Kaku both narrow their eyes at Zoro, Zoro in turn looks at them with blood covering his face and a demonic grin on his face,

"One down three to go."

Lucci knowing that Zoro wouldn't be an easy opponent decides to transform into his humanoid leopard form, his speed and power increasing ten-fold with that he moves in to engage Zoro. Using Kami-e he tries to dodge Zoro's strikes but even with Kami-e he could only avoid a few of them and barely had the opportunity to counter-attack, Zoro was enjoying this more and more by the second he would be able to run Lucci threw himself and that thought was just bringing him so much pleasure.

"Yakkodori!"

The projectile launched at such a close distance caused Lucci to Soru without a destination in mind, with his Observation Haki Zoro easily knew where Lucci would appear and dashed towards the spot Lucci had appeared in. Not expecting Zoro to know where he would reappear Lucci couldn't react properly when Zoro honed in on his location, he was only saved when Kaku used his blade to block Zoro's strike. They lock blades for a moment Kaku obviously losing, with that Kaku jumps back and launches an attack.

"Rankyaku!"

Seeing the strike Zoro grins and brings Decimation and Sandai Kitetsu together in an X-shape before slashing them outwards dispelling Kaku's attack, Lucci and Kaku could only watch as Zoro once again makes one of their attack useless. Finally having enough they agree on a strategy, Kaku charges forward to engage Zoro while Lucci disappears. Kaku and Zoro clash for a while, Zoro was slowly losing himself to his primal urges for battle, this would prove to be deadly as he wouldn't be able to see Lucci sneaking behind him until it was too late. Lucci wraps his tail around Zoro jolting him from his fight to face him, Lucci immediately lands a powerful strike on Zoro.

"Rokuogan!"

The devastating shock wave hits Zoro causing him to feel pain for the first time since they fought, all is silent for a moment Kaku and Lucci relax a bit thinking that they had finally defeated the demon of a man they were fighting only to be broken from those thought when Zoro starts laughing,

"So weak!"

He stabs Lucci in the shoulder, causing Lucci to grunt and jump back with a hole in his shoulder,

"What the hell are you?"

Zoro chuckles at him,

"I am Roronoa Zoro, the Demon Wind, the possessor of the Exiled Warblade: Decimation and the Right-Hand Man of the next Pirate King!"

They both stare at Zoro for a moment before steeling themselves to fight him only to be interrupted by a voice,

"That's enough."

They all turn towards the voice and for the first time since he arrived Zoro's smile drops,

"Lucci, Kaku grab Blueno and leave, he will keep on fighting until he drops dead. That would take time that we don't have right now."

They reluctantly comply leaving the room, silence fills the room for a moment before Zoro speaks up,

"Everyone has there reasons but do pray tell, what makes you think I won't kill you right here and now."

She talks confidently but her body betrayed how she was truly feeling,

"Because you are a reasonable man."

Zoro chuckles at the answer,

"My mind is going crazy right now and the last thing I am is reasonable."

He grabs his face covering one eye hoping to contain his ever increasing blood lust with one eye visible shining brightly,

"Then let me correct myself Mr. Swordsman, you are smarter than you put on. You know more than you should and you know more about this situation than even I might know."

Zoro was finally calming down a bit,

"Get to your point!"

She shivers a bit,

"You knew that this would have happened and you have a plan to stop everything already."

He chuckles darkly,

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

She yells at him,

"Don't lie!"

Zoro dashes forward placing the tip of Sandai Kitetsu to her throat,

"I'm not the only liar here now am I?"

She gulps as she stares at the blade,

"You can't take this threat on, it would be better if you got the crew and left now forget about me!"

Zoro finally coming back to his senses pulls his blade away from her throat, he sheathes it and walks towards the windows,

"You know how our captain is, if he considers you his nakama than he will stop at nothing to protect you from those that could harm you."

With that Zoro jumps out the window landing onto the yard in front of the mansion, he looks around for Nami and Iceburg for a moment. He doesn't see anything so he turns on his Observation Haki to search for them, after a moment of searching he finds them still running away from Kalifa. Sighing he rushes towards their location, he arrives just in time to slam right into Kalifa sending her into the wall. He laughs at this and watches as she groans trying to pull herself out of the wall, in that moment he was distracted he didn't notice Lucci appear to his side,

"Rokuogan!"

The shock wave once again hits Zoro sending him backwards and groaning, he looks up with a dark glint in his eye accompanied with annoyance.

"You should just die."

Lucci doesn't respond he grabs Kalifa then disappears, Zoro groans in annoyance and puts his head down to stare at the sky for a moment,

"Get up!"

Nami kicks his head, he growls at her,

"Leave me alone, I'm tired!"

She huffs,

"Do you know where the rest of them are?"

Zoro sighs,

"Choppers behind you, Sanji I have no idea and Luffy just came rocketing out of the now burning mansion."

Nami looks at him,

"The mansion isn't bur-"

Right when she says that the mansion explodes into flames, she watches as it slowly burns. She groans before grabbing one of Zoro's arms and slowly dragging him further away from the collapsing building. Zoro slowly watches the mansion burn,

"Neh Zoro, Nami do you guys know where the mask people are, I'm going to kick their butts!"

Zoro chuckles before turning to Luffy,

"They're gone Luffy."

He groans,

"Where's everyone else?"

Zoro sits up and coughs a bit,

"Everyone's fine, the only exception would be Sanji and Robin."

Luffy looks at him oddly,

"Where's Sanji and Robin?"

Zoro sighs,

"No idea where Sanji is but Robin's with the masked people."

Luffy, Nami and Chopper all the take the information as he had expected. Not wanting to hear their opinions he speaks up first,

"Luffy, she's our nakama right."

Luffy nods,

"Then shouldn't we go after her and find out why she disappeared?"

Luffy smiles,

"Yea, we gotta go find Robin!"

Zoro chuckles at him, but their conversation is interrupted by Iceburg,

"You guys can't chase after them, Aqua Laguna has arrived, it's impossible to get past the waves."

Zoro chuckles at him,

"Mr you have no idea who we are, if it's impossible we'll make it possible."

Deciding not to sweat over the details he closes his eyes hoping to get a bit of rest before the head out to Enies Lobby, leaving Nami to explain everything to Luffy and Chopper.

~A While Later~

They walk forward and look at the Rocket Man,

"Are you sure this could get us there?"

Kokoro takes swig of her sake and laughs,

"Probably."

Zoro sweatdrops at this,

"Should our operator really be drunk?"

She continues to laugh and boards the train, Zoro sighs at how insane the situation was. Before he gets on the ship he turns around to face the members of the Franky Family,

"Please, let-!"

Zoro waves them off,

"Don't slow us down."

They perk up at this and whatever they said afterward Zoro ignored, he got onto the train and finds a quite spot in the corner to meditate even though he knew that he wouldn't be able to meditate here it never hurt to try. Kokoro calls out to them,

"Hold on to something this is going to be a bumpy ride."

Zoro grunts as most of the Strawhats don't heed her warning and fly backward slamming into him, he picks Chopper and Luffy off him both of which were laughing at him with wide smiles on their faces. Nami simply sat up rubbing her head,

"Damn that hurt."

Zoro grumbles,

"Can you off of me?"

She looks at him before chuckling,

"Sure, sure."

Finally with the Strawhats off him he turns towards the members of the Galley-la company that snuck on board,

"Why are you guys here?"

Paulie looks at Tilestone and Lulu,

"Yea, why are you guys here?"

He stares at Paulie,

"That also includes you."

Paulie lights a cigar before responding,

"Those guys Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa. Their all from the Galley-la company and we need answers from them for what they've done."

Zoro sighs,

"Just don't slow us down."

Closing his eyes hoping to ease his pounding head,

_"Nice to know you're rushing straight towards your demise."_

Zoro groans,

"What do you want?"

Volron chuckles at this,

_"You to die, but that's going to happen soon."_

Zoro snorts,

"Yea and how am I going to die?"

_"Enies Lobby has a special little monster that will do the job."_

Zoro pauses for a second,

"What monster do they have?"

Volron chuckles at him but doesn't respond, Ashura does,

_"He's talking about Leviathan."_

Zoro is silent for a moment,

"Leviathan...?"

_"Yea."_

Zoro takes a deep breath before responding,

"You're fucking kidding me right?"

Ashura scoffs,

_"I wish I was kidding but I'm not."_

Zoro groans and rubs his face,

"How am I suppose to deal with it then?"

Ashura is silent,

"Hey, how am I suppose to defeat it. You being silent isn't helping me here."

Ashura sighs,

_"You can't, you may have been able to trap Volron but the Leviathan is a much more ancient and powerful beast. The best you can do is avoid it."_

Zoro growls,

"We'll I'm heading right to it now, so what do I do?"

_"Yggdrasil."_

Zoro quirks his eyebrow in confusion,

"What about it?"

_"It's not the most powerful move but it allows you to actually pierce through the Leviathan's scales and if you collect enough nature energy you may be able to injure it enough to cause it to retreat back into the depths."_

Zoro sighs,

"How much nature energy would I need to collect then?"

Ashura chuckles,

_"More than you could ever collect in your human life-span."_

Zoro groans in annoyance,

"Give me a solution that I could actually work with here."

Ashura sighs,

_"There is no solution, it's impossible to defeat him much less survive an encounter with it."_

Zoro grumbles at him,

"How about the Soul-Devouring Flames?"

Ashura is silent for a moment,

_"Yea, you could use the Pulsation Wave to keep it away from you, though with how untrained you are with it the chances of you keeping the Leviathan back would be really low but it's worth a shot."_

Finally hearing something of a solution Zoro's lip quirks up into a smile,

"Pulsation Wave?"

_"You apply a thin layer of the Soul-Devouring Flames to your body and have it released from your body in intervals forming a sort of barrier around you. Though your mastery of the flames isn't up to par of what would be required it is possible, though if it would keep Leviathan back is still up for debate."_

Zoro sighs,

"Then I can't rely on that then, I don't have enough time to learn it much less use it in a battle against a giant mythical beast."

Ashura chuckles,

_"You're right, but what else could you do?"_

Zoro gains an insane grin,

"I'm going to fight and keep the Leviathan away from my crew."

Decimation joins in on Ashura's laughter,

"You are a truly insane person."

Zoro stands up and walks towards the front of the train,

"A bit of insanity wouldn't be that bad of an idea considering my situation."

Ashura finally stops laughing,

_'Let us hope it can save you then."_

Staring at the incoming wave Zoro unsheathes his blades,

"We'll see then, Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

**That's a wrap I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I finally wrote a fight scene that I'm actually happy with. Though I don't like the hole I dug myself into, I know I can't just have Zoro constantly one shotting most of his opponents that's why I had him fight Aokiji, but for a main arc like Enies Lobby I need something to keep Zoro's attention. It was either some kind of dangerous monster like I've chosen or another one of Volron's followers which I think should appear at every arc so I'm kind of spacing it out between their appearances, but now I've chosen the fanatical idea of Zoro taking on the fucking Leviathan. He's in no way going to defeat him, but I'm still; trying to find a way where Zoro isn't completely destroyed by the beast and their fight could distract Zoro for most of the Enies Lobby arc. It'd be interesting to write the fight between them and I'm kind of excited to do so even if I only have a slight idea of how to do so, the idea of bringing monsters into the story sounds fascinating to me and I feel like bringing more of them into the story wouldn't be a bad idea. So next time maybe I wouldn't bring a creature that I can't think of anyway for Zoro to defeat unless he got a major power-up which the Decimation form is, but even with that comparing to the Leviathan wouldn't be enough. Or some weird plot armor shit which I would rather not resort to, so I'm still up for ideas on how to handle this part of the story. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	23. An Unwinnable Battle

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Things were going just as he remembered, the Rocket Man goes right Aqua Laguna with the hole he created and now he was about to cut a passenger car in half,

"Nitoryu lai: Rashomon!"

It is cut straight through the middle separating the car into two parts, Zoro looks at his handiwork happily before walking back into the train. He shakes a bit of the water off him before walking to his corner sitting down and sighing,

"Should have gotten something to eat before we set off."

He leans back and closes his eyes hoping to rest a bit before his battle with Leviathan, something he was definitely not looking forward to. He would be able to rest easily until he heard yelling from the Franky Family,

"It's the Ship-Butcher T-Bone!"

"Ohh no he's going to cut right through the train!"

"What are we going to do!"

Zoro groans and stands up he heads towards the front of the train and stares at T-Bone,

"Get out of the way, or die!"

Zoro already knew his answer so he ignored the man's yells and readies his blades,

"Chokkaku Hichou Poon Oodorii!"

Zoro charges forward deflecting the strike,

"Santoryu Gyuki Myuzume!"

The strike hits T-Bone and sends him off the tracks, Zoro jumps and grabs onto the side of the train,

"You are a good man but what we move forward for is much more important."

He climbs back into the train and glares at everyone,

"Don't disturb me, I need some rest."

They all nod at him the only one to not do so would be Nami who studied Zoro finding this situation to be a bit odd, she walks up to him,

"Something's wrong."

He pops an eye open and glares at her,

"I thought I said not to disturb me."

She rolls her eyes,

"What's with you, you seem a bit more tense than usual."

Zoro sighs,

"There's a monster at Enies Lobby, that I know without a doubt I can't defeat."

Nami looks at him shocked,

"But didn't you defeat it last time?"

He rubs the back of his head,

"Last time we never encountered the monster, the only reason I can think of it appearing this time is because of me."

She sighs and sits down across from him,

"Than what are you going to do?"

He shrugs his shoulders,

"Whatever it takes to stop it from reaching you guys."

With that answer Zoro closes his eyes to sleep, ignoring anymore comments Nami had.

"Wake me up when we get there."

He could hear her grumbling at him, he smiles at this and finally falls asleep.

~A While Later~

"Wake up Zoro we're almost there."

Zoro pops his eyes open, he yawns and stretches before standing up. He looks around for a moment before walking towards the rest of the Strawhats,

"Yo Moss-Head how can you just be sleeping Robin-chan is in danger and you can't even be awake to worry about her!"

Zoro grumbles at Sanji,

"We're heading there to save her, if there's nothing I can currently do to help her than there's no need to stay awake and worry about it."

Sanji growls at him,

"You insufferable swordsman!"

Zoro didn't want to deal with this so he glares at Sanji and talks with a much darker tone,

"Though I'm sure that out of everyone here I have the most to worry about."

Sanji looks at him quizzically,

"What are you talking about everyone is worried."

Zoro sighs and walks past him,

"Not going to bother explaining, you'll all see when it happens."

Sanji was seething at Zoro's nonchalant attitude at the situation, Zoro pauses for a moment and turns around to look at them,

"Where's Luffy?"

The Strawhats all pause and look around before collectively groaning, Luffy had already disappeared into Enies Lobby. They sigh at him but they had expected Luffy to do something like this, the Franky Family and Galley-la company chase after him joining in the battle at the front gate. The Strawhats continue onward waiting for their moment to strike,

"Yo Frog come with me."

Yokozuna looks at Zoro and nods they both head to the front of the ship, they stand patiently as they barrel towards the gate,

"Frog push the fence down."

Yokozuna gives a war-cry and walks forward preparing to push the fence down,

"Gero!"

Yokozuna pushes the fence down causing the train to use the fence as a ramp shooting over the gate, Zoro chuckles at the screams coming from the rest of the Strawhats. They slam into a giant just as Zoro remembered and the moment they hit the giant Zoro jumped off the train, he stares at the Marines staring in shock at what just happened,

"Now, now don't just stare in shock I'm here to raise hell and if you guys don't try to stop me it's just going to be boring."

Recovering from their stupor the Marines charge at Zoro, he laughs at their feeble attempts to attack him. He tears threw most of them easily and would continue to do so until the King Bull would appear with Paulie atop them,

"Strawhats this isn't suppose where you should be!"

Zoro knew he was right but tearing through a few Marines was fun, he grabs the rope that Paulie threw down for him. Paulie gives the reins to Sanji,

"When you see them tell them this for me, you're fired."

Zoro grins at him,

"Of course."

Paulie jumps off the King Bull and engages with the people chasing after them, Zoro turns his attention towards the courthouse which was their destination. He would have to deflect a few bullets and bombs here and there but it was mostly an undisturbed journey forward. The were about to reach the courthouse when the King Bull they were rubbing was suddenly hit but a giant metal ball,

"Tch we should get off now."

The Strawhats agree and all get off the King Bull they stare at the giant gate that was in front of them, Zoro turns towards the rest of them,

"You guys saw it right, Luffy's already fighting CP9."

Sanji sighs,

"Yea."

Zoro grins and unsheathes all his blades,

"Then we should join the party now should we."

Zoro cuts down the bottom portion of the gate so that the Strawhats could enter the Courthouse, once inside they see yet another army of Marines. Zoro sighs before jumping into action,

"Tatsumaki!"

That strikes gets rid of the first few Marines clearing the way for the Strawhats a bit but not enough, Zoro counts how many Marines were left before grinning,

"Enbima Yonezu Oni Giri!"

With that the rest of the Marines were defeated leaving only the three headed judge, he was sweating at the appearance of the Strawhats,

"We are the presiding jud-!"

Zoro didn't feel like listening to the rest of their sentence,

"Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

The compressed air slams into the judge causing them to be silence pleasing Zoro greatly,

"Let's get going!"

They head up the stairs battling Marine after Marine after a while it just got repetitive and annoying,

"Ohh right, Tatsumaki!"

With that strike the floors above him are destroyed leaving him an open hole to get tot he top, he looks and sees that Luffy was already talking to CP9. Zoro drops any semblance of a smile that was on his face and hops onto one of the blocks on the building looking directly at Robin and CP9, Luffy continues his speech ignoring the arrival of the rest of the Strawhats,

"Now leave everything to us!"

Zoro looks and sees Spandam about to speak,

"Waaaahahaha, you pirates! You realize that no matter how brave you are, nothing could ever change! We have the full strength of an assassin group, CP9! We have the heavy "Gates of Justice" that human power cannot open! Moreover, I now have the authority to use the Golden Denden-Mushi to trigger the "Buster Call!"

Zoro tunes him out knowing that no matter what happened that they would save Robin,

"Stop it! Don't do that!"

Spandam mocks her for her reaction,

"Do you even know what'll happen if you press it?!"

Spandam laughs,

"The chances of you pirates getting off this island will become zero, by just a push of the button on this Golden Denden-Mushi!"

Zoro had his hand on the hilt of his blades ready to cut them all down, but Luffy stuck his hand out stopping Zoro from doing anything. Zoro growls a bit but complies,

"Ask for the "Buster Call" now, you'll be blown up, too along with Enies Lobby."

Spandam scoffs,

"Don't be silly! How could we be blown up by our own allies attack!? What're you talking about!?"

Robin was struggling to get what she wanted to say out,

"Twenty years ago just one attack took everything from me, as well as ruining the lives of many people! That is the Buster Call. That attack is now aimed at the dear nakama that I've finally found. The more I wish to be with you the more my fate will bare it's fangs at you! No matter what sea I go to, I have this great foe that I can't shake! Cause my enemy is the world and it's darkness!"

She pauses for a moment to take a deep breath,

"First the incident with Aokiji and now this, I've gotten you involved twice already! If this goes on forever, even good-natured people like you will eventually consider me a burden! In time you'll betray and jilt me, that's what I'm most afraid of that's why I didn't want you to come and save me! If it's a life that I'll eventually lose, I want to just die right here and now!"

The Strawhats are silent listening to her words, Spandam breaks into laughter at her.

"Of course! No one could think you're not a burden with all you problems! Waaahahaha! Look at that symbol pirates! That mark represents the unity of over a hundred and seventy nations in the four seas and the grand line this is the world! Do you understand how insignificant you are against us, do you understand how big of an organization was after her!"

The words don't affect Luffy,

"Sogeking, shoot that flag."

Expecting it Usopp prepares his weapon,

"Roger! Observe my new weapon called Kabuto! Ultimate Fire-bird Star!"

Everyone who could see it watch as the flag of the world government burns, Spandam freaks out,

"Are you bastards insane! Don't you dare even dream that you'd survive having the world as your enemy!"

Luffy stares straight at Robin, taking a deep breath,

"I'D BE HAPPY TO LIVE WITH THAT!"

He calms down for a second,

"Robin! I haven't heard it from you yet! Say you wanna live!"

Robin's head drops and they could see her trembling with tears cascading her face she replies,

"I wanna live! Take me with you to the ocean!"

Zoro's face contorts into an expression of glee as he watches the drawbridge lower after those words, Luffy smiles his usual smile,

"Here we go!"

The drawbridge slowly opens but is suddenly halted when an explosion occurs, but the Strawhats attention is turned back to Robin when Franky exposes the now identified blueprints of the Ancient Weapon Pluton. He grins at CP9 and holds the blueprints in front of his face, blowing fire right onto it burning the blueprints. Zoro chuckles at him,

"Let's get going guys."

He sheathes his swords and timing it right jumps off the roof, he and the rest of the Strawhats all land onto Rocket Man who was barreling forward and shooting towards the Judaical Tower. They finally arrived and their battles were about to begin, they were about to head into the building to find Robin but are interrupted by a member of CP9.

"There's no point in you guys finding her, Lucci will defeat you all."

He was about to explain the keys but Zoro grins,

"Jinsoku!"

He disappears only to reappear above the CP9 member,

"Ashura Hakai!"

They strike tears right into his body causing him to cough out blood and collapse onto the floor, Zoro grabs the key and throws it to Nami,

"Lets get the rest of the keys."

The Strawhats all nod and run off in different directions searching for the other members of CP9, Zoro traces the path that he took last time and once again comes across Kaku sitting in a chair waiting for him,

"Demon Wind Zoro we meet once again."

Zoro growls at him,

"I don't have time for your monologue I have bigger problems to deal with!"

Kaku scoffs,

"I'm the second strongest member of CP9 besides Lucci who else could be more troublesome."

Zoro grins at him,

"Not who, what."

Kaku looks at him quizzically and opens his mouth to responds but zoro stops him by jumping right into the fight,

"Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

Kaku uses Soru to escape the the strike,

"Not one for talking now are you."

Zoro snarls,

"Like I said I have bigger problems to deal with."

They clash for a few moments before Zoro decides that enough was enough,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

He merges with Decimation once again and charges at breakneck speeds towards Kaku, not wanting to give Kaku a moment to dodge Zoro strikes,

"Daishinkan!"

The strike lands successfully causing Kaku to fly backwards, Zoro slowly walks over to Kaku who was struggling to stand up,

"You were matched against me so that was bad luck on your part, though you are still quite a powerful opponent."

Kaku chuckles but stops once he coughs up blood,

"This doesn't make me feel powerful."

Zoro chuckles too,

"Then go to sleep, ooh and Paulie says you're fired."

Kaku laughs at this before Zoro stabs him in the chest, the pain overloading him causes Kaku to fall unconscious. Grabbing the key Zoro races out of the room to search for one of the other Strawhats to give the key too, after a few moments of running Zoro finds Nami.

"Nami, catch!"

She snaps her head towards him to see a key flying towards her, she fumbles a bit but successfully catches the key. She wants to get a word out but Zoro already disappeared, she sighs,

"That idiot."

Zoro races hoping to get to the Gates of Justice but freezes when he senses something, finding the closes exit he peers into the abyss that surrounded Enies Lobby. He sees nothing and is about to let out a breath of relief, but then he sees something blue quickly rising from the abyss,

"Please tell me that's not Leviathan."

Ashura sighs,

_"That's Leviathan all right, good luck fighting that."_

Zoro groans in anger,

"How the fuck am I suppose to fight that?!"

Ashura doesn't answer him, growling he unsheathes his Sandai Kitetsu and Wado Ichimoji preparing himself for a fight that he knew he would never win. Taking a deep breath he jumps off falling towards Leviathan, it would take about four seconds before they come into contact. Zoro was hoping to take an eye out but this was proving to be no difficult than he wished it to be, the beast decided not to meet Zoro head on instead it used one of it's limbs to send Zoro flying. Zoro slams through the side of the building, groaning he sits up to see Sanji and Kalifa both staring at him,

"Don't mind me."

With that Zoro stands up and jumps out of the hole that he just created coating his blades in Haki and Soul-Devouring Flames, with his blades coated he had managed to stab into the Leviathan allowing him to stay on the beast as it flew higher and higher. Sanji looks at Kalifa,

"What the hell was that?"

She shrugs her shoulders before continuing their battle, Zoro on the other hand was having the time of his life trying to stay on the beast and keep it's limbs from throwing him off. Finally getting a decent footing he runs up the beast hoping to get to it's eye seeing as stabbing into it's side had close to no ill effect on it, it would take a bit of running even with Jinsoku before he would reach it's eye.

"Yggdrasil!"

Just as Ashura said Yggdrasil was able to pierce the beasts scales not only tearing through its eye but the surrounding tissue, the beast roars and one of it's limbs shoot forward hoping to strike Zoro. Zoro barely dodges the strike but watches in fascination as the beast not only missed him but also struck itself, though it didn't cause much damage it seems to be able to pierce it's own scales with enough power behind it. Zoro grins and readies himself for another strike only to be jolted from his spot when Leviathan suddenly dived downward causing Zoro to fly off it's back, Zoro was desperately trying to grab onto anything he could so that he wouldn't fall to his death. He barely managed to snag his blade onto Leviathan's tail, he tries to pull himself forward but Leviathan swung it's tail try to shake Zoro off. Zoro luckily had managed to stay on it's tail, when Leviathan finally calms down a bit Zoro makes his move charging forward he jumps and brings Decimation down onto Leviathan's back,

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

With the blade inside Leviathans back the fireball materialized within the beast causing a reaction that Zoro liked, Leviathan roars in pain before swinging on of it's limbs at Zoro slamming into him. This oddly enough causes him to land on the bridge between Enies Lobby and the Gates of Justice,

"God damn that hurt."

Grumbling he pulls himself off the ground, he looks around to see that Robin was on the bridge along with Spandam and the Marines. He gathers his blades and looks for Leviathan,

_"He disappeared back into the abyss."_

Zoro pauses for a moment,

"So I'm safe now?"

Ashura chuckles,

_"Maybe, you can never be sure when he'll come back and I'm pretty sure hes just biding time to attack you again."_

Zoro groans before turning to Spandam,

"I'm not in the greatest of moods so leave us alone or I'll kill you."

Spandam looks at Zoro scared but he tries to put on a brave front,

"Y-you better back off or I'll press the button, don't tempt me!"

As he said that he stuck his hand out that was holding the Golden Denden-Mushi, he wasn't holding onto it properly causing it to fall out of his grasp. Spandam dives for it and with that causes a sound that nobody wanted to hear,

"Click!"

Zoro growls in annoyance,

"You just had to press it didn't you, you're a fucking retard."

Spandam tries to give a response but his actions were causing him to hesitate, Zoro was growing more and more annoyed by the second,

"Jinsoku!"

He dashes forward landing a hard kick to Spandam's face sending him flying, he rubs his head in annoyance before turning towards Robin. He brings his blade up and slashes down, Robin didn't think that Zoro would attack her and without her Devil Fruit powers all she could do was bring her arms up to defend herself, what she didn't expect to happen was Zoro not cutting her but cutting through her Seastone cuffs. She looks up at Zoro ti see him smiling softly at her,

"We should get out of here soon the Buster Call is in motion, staying longer wouldn't be detrimental to our health."

Wiping the tears from her eyes she responds,

"Yea lets head back home."

They both quickly head back to the tunnel that Robin used to get to the bridge only to pause when the Gates of Justice open, Robin's expression changes to one of fear at the sight of the Marine Fleet heading towards them. The ships fire at them blowing up the passage way that was used to reach the bridge, with that causing Franky to fly forward from the explosion. Zoro stares at Franky,

"We need to fi-."

He's interrupted when a roar erupts from within the abyss,

"Shit! Franky get Robin out of here now, I'll hold them back!"

They were about to argue but Zoro had already ran off, aiming a strike at incoming ship Zoro attacks,

"Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

The projectile hits the first ship tearing it apart causing the other ships to slam into it making them slow to a halt, with that Zoro spins around and sprints past the awe-struck Robin and Franky.

"Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

Franky and Robin watch in horror as not only does Zoro grow to extra heads and four extra limbs, he also sprints and jumps right into the abyss surrounding Enies Lobby. They would have ran to check on him if he didn't yell out to them,

"Don't worry about me just focus on getting out of here alive!"

They comply and go running in search of a way to escape, while Zoro was rapidly descending into the abyss to confront the mythical beast once again. Once again Zoro was aiming for it's eyes seeing as it was a weak spot for most creatures, once again Leviathan shifts it's body to avoid Zoro and once again Zoro manages to snag his blades into the side of the beast. He could hear the Marine ships shooting rapidly above him but he couldn't focus on it as his attention was on Leviathan who was trying it's best to kill him, the beast this time decided that eating Zoro wouldn't be that terrible of an idea. Though it had to grab him first and Zoro was willing to test something out, Leviathan shoots it's limbs to grab Zoro. Zoro readies himself for this,

"Ashura Hakai: Ajimasuburesu!"

The strike had only managed to put shallow cuts into the thick scales of the Leviathan, but it definitely felt it this time as it once again roared. It swung its tail and it connected with Zoro's body once again slamming him into rock surface beside him, the Leviathan wouldn't let up though rearing it's tail back and slamming it into Zoro over and over again. His body could only take so much abuse along with the fact that he had both his Ashura and Decimation form activated he was quickly becoming exhausted, he brings his blades up in an effort to stop the tails assault. Which leads to his blades being embedded into the beast tail, seeing an opportunity he tiredly climbs up the tail hoping to reach the beast's eyes. Thankfully he manages to achieve his goal this time, standing right behind the beast somewhat injured left eye he brings his blade down right up against it,

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

The fireball causes the beast to snap it's head up shooting Zoro high into the air, Zoro could do nothing but watch as the beast roars and aims its mouth at him. Building up what seemed to be a beam of energy, growling Zoro pulls at all of his remaining power to try stop the beam from killing him. The beam is then released and everything was moving in slow motion for Zoro, he wasn't sure if he would survive this but he had to try.

"Ashura: Ichibugin!"

The beam didn't hit his body but was only being stopped by his blades, if he didn't disperse the energy soon it would overpower his blades. After what felt like minutes Zoro was finally able to fan out all this blades dispersing the energy, he chuckles a bit before his Ashura form dissipates. He slowly starts falling, he knew that the battle wasn't over yet but his body had hit a point where he was physically exhausted and the injuries he sustained wouldn't allow him to move properly without hurting himself even more. He sees Leviathan flying towards him with it's mouth wide open ready to swallow him, Zoro closes his eyes waiting for his inevitable demise.

_"Pathetic, you are the Demon Wind and you give up without taking more than just an eye from your opponent."_

He was too exhausted to argue with Volron, but he didn't have to as Volron continued to talk.

_"As much as I hate you, you can't die. What would your crew think, they would be lost without their First Mate. You can't die from some overgrown sea eel!"_

He hadn't expected those words from Volron of all people and all he could do is chuckle,

_"Get up and do something already, your crew is going to die without you! You know what happened in your past life!"_

Zoro takes a moment to register those words, he puts a strained grin on his face,

"You're right, until I save everyone from their fate my life doesn't belong to me!"

Still exhausted but filled with renewed vigor he brings his blades together ready to stop the beast from gulping him down, it would work somehow but not enough as Zoro was still within the beast mouth but not yet down it's throat. He keeps his blades above his head to stop Leviathan from closing it's jaw on him, a very taxing move that he was slowly losing to. With the strain put upon his body Zoro didn't know how long he was holding it up until the beast jolts to a stop forcing Zoro out of it's mouth and swinging it's tail towards him sending him flying, Zoro really seemed to be lucking out on places he would land as he had somehow landed onto the Going Merry. He coughs up blood and looks around to see the rest of the Strawhats looking at him, he chuckles at them before standing up. He stares right at the rapidly approaching Leviathan,

"Any ideas guys?"

Volron sighs,

_"I'll just use your body for a bit."_

Zoro pauses for a second,

"Wha-?!"

But it was already too late as he loses consciousness.

~A Few Moments Later~

Zoro jolts up but groans in pain at this action, he looks into the distance to see that Enies Lobby was still in sight but very far away. Sighing he lays back down so to recover from his battle with a beast that far surpassed human powers, but he couldn't rest as he hears someone crying next to him. Turning his head he sees Chopper and Usopp bawling their eyes out,

"What?"

Chopper stutters out,

"We thought you died!"

He chuckles,

"Well I didn't. Though I can't remember if I did anything after I landed onto the ship."

Usopp answered this time,

"You smiled then walked to the front of the ship, your hands were covered in black flames! Than you yelled something like, Myakudo Bimu! Than fire shot from your hands and blasted the monster, the beam made the monster run away from us!"

Zoro stares at him before chuckling and closing his eyes, though apparently they took this as Zoro dying. Chopper started freaking out,

"Don't die Zoro!"

He was shaking Zoro violently, Zoro growls at him,

"I'm not dying! I'm trying to get some rest!"

Chopper becomes flushed with embarrassment, the rest of the Strawhats laugh at the interaction but their worry for Zoro's condition was still evident. Zoro shakily sits up and looks at them,

"So I can guess everyone won their battles."

They all grin at him, but Robin was the only to respond, well not respond but ask him a question,

"Zoro, what was that creature you were fighting."

Hearing her question Zoro hesitates for a second, he studies the massive amount of injuries on his body before answering,

"That was Leviathan, the sin of envy."

The Strawhats all quiet down when they hear him say this, Zoro chuckles,

"So he's basically one of the few strongest demonic creatures to ever exist."

They open their mouths to ask question but Zoro stops them,

"We just survived raiding one of the Marines top bases, we shouldn't get caught up in details right now we should celebrate."

Though they knew he was right, they also wanted answers to a few of the things they saw happen at Enies Lobby. Before they could do anything else the front part of the Merry breaks apart, the Strawhats all panic at the sight but are saved by Iceburg arriving on another ship. They knew the moment most of them have been dreading was about to happen, Merry's funeral. The ship was broken far beyond repair, it would barely last any longer on the water itself now. They all board Iceburg's ship leaving Luffy there to set fire to the Going Merry, all the Strawhats stand to pay their respects to Merry. Most of them were close to tears and Zoro knew that with what was about to happen the flood gates would be released for most of them, a child-like voice speaks,

"I'm sorry. I wanted to carry you just a bit further. I'm sorry I wanted to go on more adventures with you, But I-"

Luffy starts bawling,

"We're the ones who have to apologize Merry! I'm not good at navigating, and I crashed you onto an iceberg! I even ripped the sail sometimes, Zoro and Sanji are idiots, sot hey broke many things too! Usopp always tried to fix you every time, but he's not good at it either! We're sorry!"

Voice returns,

"But I was happy. Thank you for taking good care of me until now. I was really happy."

As the Merry slowly burned away Zoro had only a few quiet words for her,

"I'm sorry that I couldn't save you, I knew how much you were hurting but I only stood aside and did nothing. It was dishonorable and I may never be able to atone for what I've done but I still thank you for everything you've done for this crew."

Zoro closes his eyes but the voice returns one last time directed towards him,

"Just promise me that you'll save them."

Zoro smiled sadly at Merry,

"I will."

**That's a wrap for anybody not sure about the depiction of Leviathan I chose for this story, just search up Leviathan on the Monster Wiki. That image is what I had used for this story, gotta say that depiction of Leviathan was really cool and I loved it. But on the note on this story, I liked it I did better with the fight scene between Zoro and Leviathan than I expected. Though the fact that I wouldn't pull some plot armor shit made it just slightly difficult for the battle, with this chapter I'm going to be bringing more mythological monsters into the story since the inclusion of the Leviathan turned out fine. When I was writing the previous chapter I was deciding whether the monster be the Leviathan or a Ningen, if you don't know what a Ningen is search it up they're really creepy. But I ultimately chose the Leviathan since it was more well known compared to the Ningen, though that doesn't rule out the idea of bringing the Ningen into the story. In total I really enjoyed writing this chapter as I played around with a new idea and the next chapter would be more of a rest chapter without too much action. Once again if you're reading this and like it thanks for reading.**


	24. Smooth Sailing

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

They had arrived back at Water 7 a day or two ago and the Strawhats were relaxing for the most part, Zoro had managed to escape Chopper though his body was still covered in bandages restricting his movements. He sat atop the wreckage that Aqua Laguna caused staring out into the sea, but suddenly he had the urge to start laughing,

"Hahahaha! I survived a fight with the fucking Leviathan and I took out one of it's eyes!"

That statement made Zoro swell up with pride, he's already taken on Volron but compared to Leviathan Volron wasn't much more than an ant. He didn't win but the fact that he had injured such a beast and lived to tell the tale was just too good to pass up,

"My aren't you having fun."

Zoro chuckles and slowly turns towards the voice,

"I survived a battle against a mythical beast, I think I own my right to celebrate."

Robin chuckles at him,

"Fair enough."

She moves to sit down next to him,

"There is still so much that I don't know about you."

Even though he knew she was trying to pry a bit his happy mood wouldn't diminish,

"Ask away, I'll tell you if I think I should and if I don't think I should answer I won't."

She smiles at him,

"What was the thing you used to battle the Leviathan, the one where you grew extra limbs and heads."

Cracking his neck Zoro answers,

"That was my Ashura form that I attained through my cursed blade Sandai Kitetsu."

She carefully studies him for lies,

"What was the last move you did to keep the Leviathan back when you finally boarded the ship?"

Zoro scratches his head,

"That I'm not entirely sure but I think it was called the Myakudo Bimu."

She quirks an eyebrow,

"You're not sure?"

Zoro sighs,

"Yea, the moment I arrived at the ship I lost conscious and Volron took over my body. So I have no recollection of what happened then."

She takes the information in like a good novel,

"I would ask more but I would assume that almost everything will be revealed soon enough."

He chuckles,

"We'll see."

She pauses for a moment and stares at him,

"Thank you for everything you've done for me, I've already said this but you were unconscious for it last time."

Zoro smiles softly at her and puts a hand on her shoulder,

"We're nakama, we'll always help each other no matter what."

She giggles at him before growing a bit more serious,

"Don't push yourself too much."

He quirks an eyebrow,

"What do you mean?"

Robin sighs,

"I was able to watch the end of your battle with Leviathan with the help of my Devil Fruit, you were ready to die there in the sky."

Zoro sighs,

"I was matched against a powerful mythical beast, I wasn't delusional to think that I would win. I charged into battle knowing full well that I may very well lose my life, but if it's to protect my friends than I would do it again in a heartbeat."

Her smiles deepens at his words,

"You are an honorable man Zoro."

He smiles at her, but he was suddenly overcome by something,

_"You'll thank me later."_

Not getting a moment to think about it Zoro's body moved without him controlling it, he closes the distance between the two of them and plants a kiss on her lips. Finally regaining his senses Zoro's face becomes flushed,

"Jinsoku!"

With that he races away, Robin watches as Zoro disappears without a word. Her cheeks are slightly reddened and she puts her fingertips up to her lips, she softly giggles before standing up and heading back to the rest of the Strawhats. Zoro after a few minutes of running finally stops breathing heavily,

"What the hell man?!"

Volron, Ashura and Decimation all collectively snort,

_"We knew you wanted to do it."_

Zoro growls,

"That doesn't mean that I'm going to do it."

They chuckle,

_"That's the point, we knew that you wanted to do it but you weren't going to. So we just gave a little push in the right direction."_

Zoro growls at them before calming himself down, taking a deep breath he sets off to find the rest of the Strawhats. He arrives at the place that the Strawhats were staying at to find the Marines there, before he could get a word out someone races towards him trying to cut him down. Zoro sighs and engages in combat with Helmeppo, deciding to humor him a bit Zoro only used one sword and was barely counter-attacking. Finally having enough Zoro overpowers him and sends his Kukri Knives flying and he puts his blade up against his neck,

"Not bad, but not good enough."

He sheathes his blade and walks past Cody and Luffy we were talking, but before he enters the house he has one last visitor to deal with. Monkey D. Garp himself was sizing Zoro up,

"So you're Demon Wind Zoro huh."

Zoro lazily looks at Garp,

"Who knows, what's it to you?"

The two men stare at each other intensely before Garp chuckles,

"I'm not here to pick a fight, but Mihawk mentioned a young little swordsman who had managed to land a cut on him."

Zoro grins at this,

"Am I what you expected?"

Garp laughs at him,

"Not at all, though I'm going to say news of what you've done are reaching far and wide. Better be careful about your enemies."

Zoro opens his mouth to speak but Garp interrupts him,

"Though I heard an interesting story about the battle at Enies Lobby, how a green haired man with three heads and six arms fought a giant dragon like beast."

Zoro shrugs his shoulder with a grin on his face,

"Some people can see weird things when they're being attacked."

With that Zoro walks past a chuckling Garp, he walks in to see the rest of the Strawhats. Sanji turns towards him,

"Oy Zoro, you know that Franky guy. He said he was willing to make us a ship, so we're going to have to camp out on this island for a few more days until they get the materials and make the ship."

Zoro sighs,

"Sure."

He continues walking and sits down at the table to eat some food, it would be a few moments but the Marines leave soon enough. With that Sanji prepares a feast to celebrate their victory, they are joined by the Franky Family and the Galley-la company. The feast lasted hours, Zoro quietly sat by the side drinking his sake alone, that was until Robin appeared,

"Zoro?"

Not expecting her he accidentally spits out the sake in his mouth,

"Jeez don't scare me like that."

She giggles at him, finally remembering what happened earlier Zoro's face reddens and he turns away,

"How are you enjoying the victory feast?"

Robin sits down next to him,

"Loud boisterous events like these aren't really my forte, but I still do enjoy the celebration."

Zoro nods not knowing what to say afterwards, small talk not being something he did a lot.

"So how are things going to be?"

Zoro looks at her and quirks an eyebrow,

"What do you mean?"

She smiles at him,

"You know what I mean."

Zoro sighs and scratches his neck,

"I don't know, I was just going to try ignore what happened."

Robin's expression turns to one of disappointment,

"Did you not want to do it?"

Zoro freezes,

"Uhh no, I-I mean yes, Uhh I d-don't know."

She giggles at his flustered expression,

"Did you like it then?"

This time Zoro had a defined answer,

"Yes."

She smiles at him,

"Do you want to do it more often?"

At that Zoro's face passes through three different shades of red, before he quietly answers,

"Yes."

She giggles at his reaction,

"Then you have your answer then."

She kisses him on the cheek before standing up and walking away, Zoro watches as she walks away.

_"Told you that you would thank me later."_

Zoro was in too much of a happy mood to respond to them, with that Zoro leans back and closes his eyes with a smile on his face that wouldn't disappear as he sleeps.

~A Few Days Pass~

The Strawhats are all set to look for a shipwright to join their crew when Zambai and the Franky Family approaches then,

"Strawhat-san!"

They take a break from running before speaking,

"Haa Haa I have a favor to ask of you, did you see the wanted poster!?"

Luffy tilts his head,

Wanted posters?"

Finally regaining his breath Zambai speaks more clearly,

"You.. you have an outrageous bounty on your head Strawhat-san! The others too you all got a bounty on your head!"

The Strawhats all wait for Zambai to show them the bounties,

"All seven of you got bounties!"

They looked at the poster,

"Strawhat" Monkey D. Luffy: 350,000,000 Berries

"Demon Wind" Zoro: 315,000,000 Berries

"Devil's Child" Nico Robin: 134,000,000 Berries

"Black Leg" Sanji: 99,000,000 Berries

"King of Sharpshooters" Sogeking: 35,000,000 Berries

"Cat Thief" Nami: 19,000,000 Berries

"Cotton Candy Lover" Chopper: 50 Berries

All the Strawhats had varying reaction to the bounties but Zoro looked at his oddly, quietly speaking to himself,

"Wonder why they increased mine so much this time?"

But that's all interrupted by Zambai,

"We- well, I can feel ya..and I know you've got lots to say, but..wait! Our request is in regard to this. Look at this!

Zambai pulls out one last wanted poster,

"Cyborg" Franky: 48,000,000 Berries

"That's right! We got off the hook somehow but bro didn't make it, bro's life will be at stake if he stays in Water 7! If he's caught again there's no way we'll be able to save him ourselves! I'm sure bro will be worried about us and won't leave the island! So we've all agreed! Strawhat-san please! Use force if necessary please take him out to sea, he's a son of a pirate after all!"

The Strawhats look at each other but Zoro speaks up,

"It's all up to you captain, whatever you say we'll go along with it."

Luffy smiles,

"We have our shipwright then."

The Franky Family all start laughing and crying at this, the Strawhats decide to go back to their place so to celebrate and rest up. Zoro was waiting, this was a pivotal moment and he would have to speak up once again, Luffy had just heard that Usopp was going to return,

"Wow! Good to know, let's go fetch him immediately! Woo Hoo! Usopp's coming back~!

Zoro sighs before speaking,

"Wait up guys! I won't let anyone go fetch him!"

Luffy looks at Zoro confused,

"Ehh why!?"

Zoro narrows hi eyes,

"No matter what, you shouldn't take a modest approach. I will not approve of him until he apologizes!"

Chopper and Nami looks at him slightly angry ready to say something but Zoro instantly shushes them,

"Whatever the thoughts were in Luffy and Usopp's argument, no matter who was correct, as long as the two decided to "fight", the outcome was entrusted to the match. In the end, he lost and he left us."

Zoro walks up and stands next to Luffy,

"Listen guys, even thought he's such an idiot, he is our captain. It's better not to have someone who cannot pay due respect to him when there's something in our crew. A crew whose captain has lost his "dignity" will surely collapse! It's none of my business that you usually joke around, but if you humiliate yourself yet still claim any pretense of being my leader, then I will be the one to leave the crew this time!"

They look at him in shock,

"Ehh!? Then we'll never come together! I agree that it'd be for the best if that fool decided to come back. But I will never let him back in if he has no intention of excusing himself and tries to sweep this under the rug! If that happens, we'll leave Usopp behind on this island!"

Nami and Chopper try to argue for Usopp but Zoro was losing his patience, he unsheathes one blade and stabs it into the grounds,

"IS LEAVING THE CREW SUCH A SIMPLE THING!"

Nami tries to speak up but Sanji interrupts,

Nami-san unfortunately, he's got it right this time."

Zoro's steely gaze stays on the crew,

"In the future there's no way we can trust a guy who does such a thing on a whim! Simply put if the first thing Usopp says is his deepest apology, then it's all right for him to come back. But if it's not, then he has no place to return to. WE AREN'T PLAYING PIRATES LIKE KIDS HERE!"

Zoro finally stops his rant, Luffy looked reluctant but he agrees, sitting down on the floor Luffy looks at the rest of the crew,

"I got it, we still have a while before we the ship is finally complete. We will wait and see how Usopp will deal with this situation!"

Seeing his job done Zoro walks over to the corner and sits down muttering to himself,

"I think all the words were exactly the same as last time."

He hears someone approaching him he looks up to see Robin with a plate of food in her hand,

"I'm not disagreeing with you but weren't you just a bit too harsh?"

Zoro shakes his head,

"They need to understand the gravity of Usopp and their own actions."

Robin sighs and looks at his scowl,

"Lighten up a bit."

He snorts and is about to say something when Robin moves closer to him with a mischievous smile on her face, Zoro's words die in his throat and he freezes up. Robin giggles and flicks his nose,

"See you look better without that scowl permanently on your face."

He grumbles at her,

"Whatever."

She giggles again this time kissing him on the cheek before walking away, Zoro sighs and he watches her walk away,

"She's going to be the death of me someday."

~A Few Days Later~

The Strawhats all walk towards the Thousand Sunny and stare at their new ship in wonder, Zoro chuckles at their reactions before hoping aboard the ship. Studying the surroundings he determines the best spot for him to nap and instantly heads towards the railing sitting down. The Strawhats chuckle as they watch Zoro find a spot and camps down like some kind of dog, Zoro only keeps one eye open to watch the events between the Strawhats and Franky unfold. He winces a lot when Robin activates her Devil Fruit to uhmm 'convince' Franky to join them, they now had a shipwright but were down a sniper. Though he knew how things were going to unfold he had to play the part of being unsuspecting of the events that were to come, after that Robin walks over and sits down next to Zoro. She reads her book but he looks at her oddly, she gives him a sideways look before speaking,

"Did you want me to do that to you?"

Zoro pales considerably,

"No!"

She giggles at his reaction before returning to her book, Zoro lets out a sigh of relief before closing his eyes to sleep a bit before they leave Water 7. They would be able to relax for a few minutes before Garp and the Marines appeared, Zoro grumbles and stands up,

"Everyone get the ship moving now!"

They all scramble to get the ship going, Zoro sighs before walking to the back of the ship along with Luffy, Zoro grins and turns towards Luffy,

"Would it be bad if I sank their ship, captain?"

Luffy turns his head,

"How will you do that?"

Zoro chuckles and unsheathes Sandai Kitetsu,

"I'll take that as a sign to go ahead then, Ittoryu: Yakkodori!"

The projectile races towards Garp's ship, once it impacts it tears through a bit of the ship but not enough to sink it.

"Tch, could have been better but should be enough to slow them down for now."

With that Zoro hears a bit of yelling coming from Garp's ship before cannonballs started rocketing towards them, Zoro chuckles at Garp's odd way of attacking before cutting down the cannonballs that were flying towards them. After a few moments he could hear Usopp yelling from the island hoping that they would stop for him, grumbling Zoro ignores him and continues to cut the cannonballs down. He spares a glance to Luffy to see him struggling not to reach over and grab Usopp,

"Remember he has to apologize for what he did captain."

Luffy stays silent and continues to deflect Garp's cannonballs,

"I"M SORRY!"

At that Zoro grins,

"Finally, grab him captain."

Luffy smiles and reaches his hand for Usopp to grab, the moment Usopp is back on board most of the crew forget the threat that Garp posed and starting celebrating. Not one to kill a party Zoro stayed silent as he continued to stop Garp's barrage of attacks, Luffy runs back to the back of the ship where Zoro was to say his goodbyes to Garp and Iceburg. Zoro looks back to see that the sail was already furled, he hears Garp yelling at Luffy,

"Don't think me a fool, or you'll hurt yourself!"

Garp swings the gigantic iron ball at the Strawhats ship, Zoro turns towards Luffy,

"Luffy, use one hand to hold onto the railing and the other to hold on to me."

Luffy complies allowing Zoro to use both his hands in case Franky was just a bit too slow he could delay the ball, though he wouldn't have to worry about that as Franky was on spot with their escape.

"Coup De Burst!"

The ship soars through the air and since Zoro didn't grab onto anything he was no longer standing on the ship, he was flying behind the ship with one sword out ready to cut down anything that came close. After a few moments the ship started it's descent, Zoro really not thinking through his plan was once again slammed down onto the deck of the ship. He lays there for a moment staring at the sky before standing up and brushing himself off, after calming down a bit the rest of the crew gathered around to celebrate.

"Now then, to Usopp and Robin who came back! And to our new nakama Franky and the pirate ship the 'Thousand Sunny'! Cheers! Next stop Fishman Island!"

They all cheer and celebrate for this occasion, Zoro could only grin before disappearing to the back of the ship looking out towards the ocean. He wanted to celebrate but there are things running through his head that he needed to sort out first,

"Ashura, Volron you guys there?"

They both respond with a resounding yep,

"Are there more creatures like the Leviathan out there?"

Ashura responds,

_"Of course there are, there are seven sins and Leviathan was one of the seven. What's to say that the other six won't be on this world?"_

Zoro sighs knowing that was going to be the answer,

"How about other creatures or monsters, dot hey exist?"

Ashura chuckles at him,

_"Don't worry Leviathan and the other six sins are some of the most powerful creatures that there are on this world, the other monsters that inhabit this world are powerful but nowhere near as powerful as those seven."_

Zoro sighs in relief at the news,

"But would the other sins come after me?"

Ashura sighs,

_"They don't like you simply because you possess powers from me, but they won't go out of their way to kill you. If you are within the area they will come after you to try kill you, but if you stay away they probably won't chase you so you should be fine."_

Zoro chuckles,

"First bit of good news I've heard in a long while."

Another voice appears this time,

"What good news could you be speaking of?"

He turns the voice to see Robin standing there with a calculating smile on her face, Zoro waves her off,

"Nothing."

She joins him on the railing,

"You sure do keep a lot of secrets Zoro."

Zoro takes a swig of his sake,

"So did you."

She chuckles at that,

"But mine were revealed, yours is still remain hidden."

He gives her a sideways glance,

"Does me keeping a secret really bother you that much?"

She doesn't respond giving Zoro all the answer he needed, Zoro decided to joke around a bit to see if he could get a reaction from her,

"If it really bothers you that much I could just leave the crew, so you wouldn't have to deal with it anymore."

Robin looks at him slightly shocked,

"That would be a bit extreme."

Zoro laughs at her,

"Barely a reaction huh."

She watches with a neutral expression on her face as Zoro laughs and drinks his sake before adopting a much sadder look,

"All will be revealed eventually, but not yet. I would rather not tell anyone but if it seems to be bothering people that much then I guess there's no way around it then."

Robin sighs,

"It's not that it bothers me but what you seem to be hiding, to me seems like something important that could affect the crew greatly."

Zoro sighs and sits down,

"It would, what I know could lead to many unfavorable situations and that's what I'm hoping to avoid at the moment."

Robin studies his saddened expression before sighing, she reaches over and grabs his hand,

"Don't be so down, were suppose to be celebrating right now."

With that Robin pulls Zoro up and proceeds to drag him to the rest of the crew, Zoro protests,

"It's fine I'm not in that much of a mood to celebrate so I don't want to drag down the mood of the crew."

Robin pulls him forward and stops staring at him, he plants a kiss on his lips causing him to be silent. She smiles mischievously at him,

"Don't worry about things now, just enjoy the celebration."

With that she pushes him causing him to stumble and fall backward over the railing, he lands with a oomph. Groaning he looks around to see the rest of the crew looking at him,

"Zoro!"

Luffy grabs him and pulls him into the celebration, Zoro turns back to see Robin standing there with a smile on her face. He sighs for a moment before smiling back at her and joining in the Strawhats celebrations.

~The Next Morning~

Zoro wakes up with a groan, he stares up at the bright sky before trying to sit up only to find the weight of another person on him. He looks down to see Robin's sleeping frame on top of him, he takes a moment to register this and decide whether to wake her up or lay back down and enjoy the position they were in. Closing his eyes he lays back down and pulls her body closer to his causing her to mumble in her sleep, Zoro chuckles at this and tries to fall asleep again. This would be disturbed not too long after when Robin wakes up, she sits up rubbing her eyes and yawning cutely before pausing. Zoro grins at her,

"Morning."

She looks down to find herself sitting on Zoro's lap before growing slightly red in the face, she stands up and dusts herself off a bit.

"Must have had too much to drink last night."

Zoro chuckles,

"Would appear so."

Zoro stands up as she clears her throat,

"Well I apologize for the unseemly position that we had ended up in."

He chuckles at her,

"Did you enjoy it?"

She looks at him a bit shocked before looking down ashamed, quietly she answers,

"Yes."

Zoro laughs at her and pulls her into a hug,

"Then there's nothing to worry about."

She looks at him with a happy expression, he grins at her,

"Though your embarrassment could be payback for pushing me over the railing last night."

They both laugh at this and Zoro releases her from his grasp, after calming down they look around to find the rest of the Strawhats all asleep sprawled out at various spots on the ship.

"Damn must have been a fun night."

Robin chuckles,

"Too bad I don't have any recollection of the night."

Zoro grins,

"Should we wake them up?"

Robin looks around before answering,

"Let's see how they wake up instead."

Zoro chuckles and drags his body to the sitting area under the mast, Robin joins him and they sit silently waiting for the rest of the Strawhats to wake up. The first one to wake up would be Sanji, he groaned as he sat up, instantly he grabbed a cigarette before looking around. He sees Zoro and Robin sitting by the mask watching him with amused expressions on their faces,

"What happened last night?"

Zoro shrugs his shoulders,

"Don't know, neither of us could remember anything about the night."

Sanji groans and lays back down, he stays there for a few minutes before grumbling and walking to the kitchen so to prepare breakfast when the rest of the Strawhats wake up. The next to wake up would be Chopper who stood up tiredly before wandering over to Robin, he reached his arms up and couldn't get a word out. Robin smiled and pulled Chopper up and put him on her lap only for Chopper to fall asleep again, after that was Franky who rolled around for a few moments before trudging towards the kitchen,

"Not super."

He was rubbing his head in pain, after him was Nami who seemed to be better than some of the Strawhats that had already awakened. She groaned before standing up and looking around, once she saw Zoro and Robin she walked over to them.

"We all drank ourselves underneath."

Zoro chuckles at her,

"Yep."

She groans before heading to her room probably to get a bit more rest on an actual bed, the next one to wake up would be Usopp as a sleep walking Luffy grabbed his leg and started dragging them towards the kitchen. Luffy was repeating one word the whole trip to the kitchen,

"Meat!"

While Usopp being unceremoniously awakened was yelling,

"Luffy! Luffy! Let go of my leg! Luffy!"

The two of them could only chuckle at this, they sit there for a few more minutes before Robin speaks up,

"We should head to the kitchen soon."

Zoro nods,

"Yea don't want Luffy to steal all the food before we even get there."

They chuckle before standing up and heading to the kitchen with Chopper in Robin's arms, they arrive to see Luffy still sleeping and Usopp nursing his injured head. Franky was face down on the table trying to ignore his headache, Sanji was cooking up breakfast which smelled delightful. The only one that wasn't here was Nami who arrived a few moments after in a change of clothes looking more refreshed than the rest of them, they all sit down around the table waiting for Sanji to finish cooking and pass the food around. That wouldn't take long as Sanji would bring the food a few short moments later, the smell of the food so close finally woke Luffy up and he immediately starts to chow down on the food. As expected the Strawhats breakfast breaks into yelling and shouting at Luffy for stealing others food and the culprit laughing with a large amount of food in his mouth, Zoro could only watch everything with a sad smile on his face. Robin notices this and gives him a worried glance before Zoro shakes his head at her, he takes his hands a slaps the side of his face causing the other Strawhats to pause for a second to look at him confused. He simply downs his food quickly before speaking,

"Try to sober up everyone, we got another island to visit soon."

He hears them all respond but doesn't see them, as he was already out the door by then. He stares out into the ocean,

"Thriller Bark. Kuma is going to be there, the only question is if I'm strong enough to defeat him yet."

Volron scoffs,

_"You fought the Leviathan and you're worried about an over sized mechanical bear?!  
_

Zoro chuckles at him,

"There's more on the line than you can imagine, but that's not my main worry here. It's what's after Thriller Bark I'm worried about."

Sabaody Archipelago was where the Strawhats were separated due to the Pacifista, Kizaru and Kuma. He had no doubt that he still couldn't take on an Admiral but the Pacifista and Kuma was still up for debate, this time Ashura answered,

_"Undoubtedly you will be separated once again, though we could pull a few strings here and there to keep you together with the Archaeologist."_

Zoro chuckles at them,

"Do whatever you want, my goal is still there. To protect everyone on this crew!"

Ashura chuckles at him,

_"Then fully embrace your role as the Demon Wind."_

Zoro pauses for a moment to enjoy the scenery,

"What else is there to do then?"

Volron scoffs at him,

_"There is so much more that you need to learn mortal."_

Zoro grins to himself,

"When do I get started?"

**That's a wrap this was a more calming chapter meant to focus on the aftermath of Enies Lobby, plus I finally started to really develop the relationship between Zoro and Robin. Something which I was trying hard to get in fruition for a while now, though never really saw the opportunity to do so. This was just perfect for it since Enies Lobby was Robin's arc so I just used the aftermath of it to develop the relationship, next chapter will be diving into Thriller Bark which would actually not require me to add an OC opponent for Zoro since I could have him fight Oars than Kuma. Though I would have to tweak a few things about it, the arc would remain mostly the same though I'm a bit unsure of how to write Sabaody. I have already decided to have the Strawhats split for two years, though I'm thinking of keeping Robin and Zoro together or meeting up later on just for a moments together. The only thing I'm not completely sure about is Zoro's destination after Kuma sends him flying, since I feel like sending him to Mihawk wouldn't be a good idea. I'll probably think of something when it comes to it, as I brainstorm right now I have an idea that may or may not work already. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	25. The Rise of the Undead

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man, there's also a poll on my profile so vote for that!**

Zoro watches as the Strawhats argued over what to do with the barrel they found floating on the ocean, Zoro sighs knowing exactly what was in the barrel. He decides to head up to the crows nest to workout, he had claimed the crows nest as his own seeing as how he would spend most of his time in it either training or just relaxing. He would be mostly undisturbed whenever he was up there except for the few times when Luffy came running up to play or when Robin came up to visit him, sighing as he meditated he heard the Strawhats open the barrel leading to a flare being set off. He pops his eye open and sees the Strawhats discussing what that was, he silently watched until he saw the Strawhats separating and heading in various directions. He took this as Nami telling them that a Storm was coming, he heads down the crows nest and heads to his post to help manage the ship as they tried to navigate through the storm. After what seemed like hours they finally exit the storm, the Strawhats all collapse exhausted from this, Zoro crawls back up the crows nest to keep watch in case anything came up. Even though he knew what was to come, a ghost ship that housed Brook, it would appear soon enough so Zoro climbed down the crows nest and joined in the rest of the crew as they conversed among themselves. He would meditate silently as the ship slowly moved closer and closer towards Thriller Bark, he's interrupted from his meditation when he hears the rest of the crew scream,

"GHOST SHIP!"

Everybody stared at the ship with nervous or downright scared looks, Zoro chuckles to himself and stands up walking towards the ship. He steps onto the railing of their ship and hops off grabbing a rope on Brook's ship, the rest of the crew yell at him while he was doing so. He turns around to see the rest of them yelling at him,

"Turn back Zoro!"

"Don't get onto the ghost ship!"

The only reaction he paid any attention to was Robin's who gave him a nervous but worried glance,

"Don't die now."

He chuckles at her words,

"Sure."

With that he continues up the ship followed by a very eager Luffy who was hoping to catch up to Zoro and a very scared Nami that was regretting this decision. He reaches the top and sees Brook standing there with a cup of tea is his hand,

"How do you do, Yohohoho! Pardon my earlier behavior, I saw you yet I did not give you a greeting."

Zoro chuckles at him and gets onto the ship,

"Don't worry about it."

Brook looks at Zoro oddly,

"You don't seem freaked out by me at all, why is that so?"

Zoro grins at him,

"If you were a threat you would have already attacked us and if you did I would have already cut you down for threatening my crew, just because you're a skeleton doesn't incite a reaction of fear from me."

Brook smiles at him, well Zoro assumed it was a smile, though him not really possessing a face made it difficult to discern.

"Do you want some tea dear sir?"

Zoro shakes his head,

"No need won't be here to long, my captain's coming up this should be a short encounter especially if he does what I think he will do."

Brook chuckles sadly and takes a sip of his team the two of them wait a few moments for Luffy and Nami to arrive. When they finally do Nami continued to freak out at the sight of Brook and Luffy prompted to ask Brook obscene question about his activities, Zoro tuned them out and watch the change in behavior each of them had. Only coming back when he saw a certain look on Luffy's face,

"Become my nakama!"

Brook takes a sip of his tea,

"Yes, very well then."

Nami looked like she was about to faint from those words, Luffy was overjoyed and Zoro, well Zoro chuckled to himself and hopped off the ship landing right back onto the Sunny. The crew look towards him for answers for what happened, Zoro waves them off,

"Don't think you should be asking me this, wait for Luffy to come down and let him explain it."

With that Zoro walks past them and heads to the crows nest, once inside he sighs deeply and gets into a meditative state. Hoping that he would get some more time to do this even though he knew that he wouldn't Zoro sighs in his meditative state,

"Hello Zoro."

Not expecting or even hearing any footsteps, Zoro jumps up grabbing his swords and faces the voice. He calms down when he sees that it was Robin,

"Jeez, don't sneak up on me like that."

She smiles at him,

"My apologies."

Zoro sheathes his blades and sits down,

"So what do you want?"

She walks towards him,

"Am I not allowed to enjoy the company of someone I care for?"

Zoro rubs his neck and grumbles,

"No, but I don't think that's the reason why you're here."

Her expression doesn't change,

"I believe you would know something about the situation we are currently heading to."

He chuckles at her,

"Now wheres the fun in that, let's just keep moving forward and experience the events to come."

Robin sighs at him, her smile dropping a bit. She spins around and heads down the crows nest leaving Zoro alone. Zoro didn't like it but this would remain a secret for just a bit longer, he sighs before heading down the crows nest himself. He heads down to see the rest of the Strawhats studying Brook and asking him questions, Chopper notices Zoro and runs up to him. Zoro smiles at him, lifting him off the ground and placing him on top of his head. Chopper greatly enjoyed this if his giggles were anything to go by, he stares into the ocean trying to spot any indication of them entering Thriller Bark. He wouldn't need to do this as a few moments later they feel the entire boat shake, Zoro turns his head looking for the mouth that swallowed their ship. He finds it after a few moments of searching, he sighs and looks towards the giant castle ahead of them. He turns around just in time to see Brook tip his hat and start running across the water in search of the zombie Ryuma, Chopper had already hopped off his head running to join Nami and Usopp as they panic about their predicament. He sit down closing his eyes, a bit more rumbling occurs as Nami, Usopp and Chopper were on the Mini-Merry and set off for the castle. Sighing he lazily opens an eye and watches as they head off, he stands up clearly not in the mood for what was about to happen.

"GYAAAAAH!"

Sanji starts to panic about Nami, taking the scream as a cue Zoro activates his Observation Haki and watches carefully for the intruder that was suppose to board their ship. He chuckles as he watches Absalom mess around with the crew, but he drew the line when Absalom approached him. Any pretense of amusement instantly drops as Zoro puts his hand on the hilt of his blades and glares at Absalom, even though he was invisible Absalom back away from Zoro clearly afraid. Zoro pauses when he watches Sanji try to leave the ship only to have his ankles grabbed causing him to slam into the ship,

"Hoge!"

He chuckles and watches him be thrown back onto the ship, but he finally starts to move when he sees Absalom heading towards Robin. Dashing forward he places his blade mere inches from Absalom's neck, Absalom freezes and the rest of the crew watch Zoro especially Robin who was barely a foot in front of him with a blade very close to her. Sanji tries to yell at Zoro for endangering a woman with his blade only to be silent when Zoro speaks,

"I think you've messed around with my crew enough."

Absalom stares at him in shock, before spinning around and pointing his bazooka at Zoro trying to blast him away. Zoro reacts in time dodging the blast and grabbing Absalom from behind,

"Don't struggle or I'll kill you right here."

Absalom growls at Zoro and points both his bazooka's forward and setting them off while jumping, causing both him and Zoro to fly backwards from the blast. They slam down onto the island, Zoro growls at him ready to cut him down only for zombie crawling out of the ground. He grumbles at this, he turns to see Absalom already retreating. Zoro sighs deciding to let him go for now, Absalom was never meant to be his opponent anyway. He would have to look for Ryuma and Gecko Moria and leave Absalom for Sanji to fight, he lazily cuts down the zombies that charge at him. Slowly making his way to the castle, once he arrives he sees that Nami, Chopper and Usopp were also there.

"Ohh, hey guys."

They all freak out before noticing it was Zoro,

"Thank god Zoro you're here! We were attacked by zombies and the forest is full of monsters-!"

They kept on going but Zoro tuned them out until they stopped,

"Let's just head into the castle ok."

They all nod and follow behind him hoping that if any enemies come up he would deal with them, Cindry appears from the well to welcome them. Zoro sighs as the three behind him scream as Cindry throws plates at them, Zoro skillfully dodges each plate and waits for Doctor Hogback to appear. Hogback finally appears and welcome them into the castle, when the other three were distracted he grabs Hogback and drags him away. Zoro slams Hogback into the wall,

"Where's Ryuma?"

Hogback starts sweating and looks at Zoro scared,

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Zoro scoffs,

"I know what you're doing on this island Hogback, now don't make me kill you. Just tell me where Ryuma is and I'll leave."

Hogback gulps before pointing in a direction, Zoro lets go of Hogback before walking in said direction,

"You see how hard was that."

With that Zoro continues on his search for Ryuma and the prized national treasure of Wano, he continues searching for a bit hoping to find Ryuma only to come across Perona. They stare at each other for a bit before Zoro speaks,

"Wrong room."

He closes the door and continues on his way only for Perona to burst out of the room screaming at him,

"Don't just leave! I'm one of the three commanders of Thriller Bark! You can't just walk away from me!"

Zoro rubs his head in annoyance,

"I'm not in the mood to fight you, do you know where the zombie Ryuma is?"

Perona narrows her eyes at him,

"Why would you want to find the samurai?"

Zoro grins at her,

"I want his sword."

She stares at him oddly before laughing,

"Hororororo you'll never be able to beat him much less beat m-!"

Zoro rolls his eyes and continues on his way,

"Hey don't walk away from me!"

Zoro speeds up in the hope he could escape her, which he does seeing as Perona gives up after a while. Even though they were kind of friends in his past life that didn't mean he would completely ignore the fact that she was an enemy here, his thoughts are interrupted when he hears the sound of blades clashing above him. Shaking his head he quickly rushes upward to see who was fighting hoping that it was Ryuma, luck was on his side this time seeing as it was Brook and Ryuma battling against each other before him. He sits down to watch the two of them fight waiting for the battle between the two to end so he would have his turn, Brook loses his blade and is about to be struck down when Zoro speaks up,

"Stop!"

Ryuma pauses and looks towards Zoro who was grinning at him and unsheathing his blades,

"Yet another opponent approaches me."

Zoro's grin widens,

"This time it's a swordsman rather than a fencer."

Brook responds,

"Hey!"

But they ignore him,

"Then let us forgo these wasted words and proceed to our battle swordsman."

Zoro chuckles at him,

"Couldn't have said it better myself."

He dashes forward meeting Ryuma head on, he knew that he could defeat Ryuma easily but it would be disgraceful for such a renowned samurai to be so easily struck down so he would go a bit easy. Pretending to be testing the waters a bit, he thought Ryuma wouldn't notice but he did,

"Do not disgrace me swordsman, it is a dishonor for an opponent not to use his full strength against a samurai!"

Zoro pauses,

"My apologies than samurai, then I will now no longer hold back. Be prepared!"

Ryuma readies himself,

"Come!"

They charge at each other,

"Nigiri: Hirameki Magnum!"

The strike lands sending Ryuma flying back, pausing for a moment to regain his breath Ryuma charges forward,

"Gavotte Bond Avant!"

Zoro deflects the attack easily, they both jump back and stare intensely at each other,

"Sorry samurai but this is where this battle shall end."

Zoro charges forward faster than Ryuma could react, Zoro uses the same attack that he had used last time to defeat Ryuma,

"Ittoryu: Hiryu Kaen!"

Zoro sheathes his blades turning around to look at Ryuma, who's wounds were already being covered by flames. Ryuma turns towards Zoro his body rapidly being consumed by the flames,

"The Meitou once carried by a legendary samurai Shusui! With you as it's master, this sword, too should be satisfied!"

Ryuma tosses the blade to Zoro who catches it,

"This was a great match, I have allowed this samurai's body to suffer defeat I am ashamed!"

Zoro watches as Ryuma slowly burns up, he grins at Ryuma,

"I'll take your sword, but let's pretend that this match never happened samurai of the Wano country!"

Zoro walks towards Brook and offers him a hand,

"Come on skeleton we got work to do, our job isn't finished yet."

Brook shoots up suddenly filled with energy,

"Thank you swordsman for retrieving my shadow!"

Zoro quirks an eyebrow,

"Forget about it, we need to get moving now."

Brook nods his head rapidly and goes running off leaving Zoro alone in the room, Zoro sighs and turns towards the window to see Oars already there. Not expecting it Zoro couldn't bring his blades up fast enough to block the incoming strike from Oars, the strike sends him flying and slamming through the castle before he finally lands. Groaning Zoro gets up and looks around, he looks to his right to see Nami and Perona staring at him,

"What?"

They both stare at him as he slowly pushes the rubble away and walks out, a little worse for wear but nowhere near dead. He stretches cracking his back and sighing in relief, he suddenly becomes tense when he senses a new presence. He turns towards them to see Kuma hovering over Perona, Zoro growls and unsheathes all his blades,

"What are you doing here Kuma."

After hearing his words both Nami and Perona snap their heads towards the now more apparent Kuma, he stares at them unmoving,

"If you would go on a vacation where would you go?"

Everyone pauses at his question and stare at him confused, Zoro growls and charges at Kuma. With a black blade within his grasp now Zoro strikes Kuma with powerful strike after powerful strike, Kuma would block some and dodge some but was unable to counter-attack with Zoro constantly moving around stopping him from getting close.

"Jinsoku!"

Zoro speeds up the fight, once he activated Jinsoku he was finally able to land a few strikes. Kuma wasn't using his full strength but he wasn't necessarily holding back either, Zoro was just too fast for him to attack.

"Ashura Hakai!"

"Pad Ho!"

Seeing his opportunity to strike Kuma does sending a shock wave at Zoro, unlikely enough Zoro didn't react in time causing the strike to slam into him. Trying not to falter he pushes through the pain to continue with his attack that tore into Kuma's shoulder to reveal wires and metal underneath, Zoro jumps back turning towards Nami and Perona.

"Get out of here now!"

Clearly not wanting to be near the battle they both silently retreat, the zombies that had followed Perona had also retreated with her. Kuma looks at his shoulder before turning back to Zoro,

"Where is Gecko Moria?"

Zoro shrugs,

"Don't know probably somewhere inside the castle."

Kuma doesn't give a response but charges up an attack that Zoro never saw before, Zoro not wanting to let him complete his attack charges forward hoping to cut down Kuma. But when he does this Kuma suddenly disappears leaving only the giant transparent paw behind,

"Ursus Shock!"

The paw shoots towards Zoro, the only thing Zoro could do was grit his teeth and take the attack.

"UGHHHHH!"

It seemed like it lasted hours when it had only last a few seconds, Zoro was completely bloody and his body was aching and calling out for him to lay down. He looks around with bleary eyes to see the area around him was completely destroyed, chuckling quietly to himself he collapses onto the ground. Kuma looks at Zoro's downed body before heading towards the castle in search of Gecko Moria, after a few moments Nami pokes her head from behind a pillar. She could only stare in shock when she sees how destroyed the area was, recollecting herself she stumbles forward to search for Zoro. It would take a few moments but when she finally does she gasp and rushes to his side, she puts her head against his chest to try find a heartbeat. It was quite faint but Zoro was still alive and for that she was thankful, she turns to the sound of destruction occurring not to far away from here probably due to the Strawhats fighting Oars.

"Not sure how we're going to get out of this one."

~Deep Within Zoro's Psyche~

Zoro was floating peacefully in an endless sea of blood with three beings hovering above him, these three beings would be Ashura the Demon God, Volron the Demon of the Core and Decimation the Exiled Warblade. Zoro opens his eyes and upon seeing them groans,

_"You are still so weak."_

Zoro scoffs at him,

"I defeated you, you shouldn't be talking."

Decimation laughs,

"He is right you know, one strike and you were down! That was a pretty pathetic display of your strength!"

Zoro growls at him,

_"That's enough the two of you."_

They all quiet down and turn towards Ashura,

_"That was a bit disappointing, I knew the difference in your power was still a bit wide but to be taken down by one of his strikes alone is truly something I did not expect. Though that was one of his more powerful attacks you were foolish enough to rush in without a plan, now your friends are fighting for their lives against an opponent they have very little hope of defeating and you're laying here slowly dying."_

Zoro sighs knowing that he was right,

"It's too late already, what's done is done, with my body in this state there's nothing I can do for them."

After hearing him say that the three of them pauses for a moment and look at each other, this makes Zoro curious,

"There's nothing I can do for them right?"

Ashura sighs,

_"You have no fully embraced being the Demon Wind, there are still many possibilities for you to grow much stronger than you are now."_

Zoro narrows his eyes,

"How is that suppose to help me here?"

Volron speaks up this time,

_"We could blast you with the Primordial Shock, this would either kill you or completely rejuvenate you. Though it would take a few minutes to do so quickly reducing the chances of your friends surviving the battle."_

Zoro contemplates this, something that could either kill him or rejuvenate him. He was never than keen on gambling but if it was his life on the line in a hope to save his friends than he would do it in a heartbeat,

"Then let's get started."

Volron grins evilly at him,

_"As much as I would enjoy seeing you writhe in pain after being hit by the Primordial Shock, we can't do it just yet there are many things to do before we can achieve this."_

Zoro growls,

"Well I don't have the time for it!"

For the first time since he arrived Decimation's smile drops,

"You dying won't help your friends either."

Zoro grits his teeth knowing that he was right, he calms himself down before adopting a serious expression.

"What do I have to do?"

Decimation's smile returns,

"Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Ashura smiles at him while Volron crosses his arms in annoyance and turns away,

_"You have to defeat a demon."_

Zoro quirks his eyebrow at this,

"A demon? What you again?"

Volron scoffs,

_"Not me you retard, the demon is you."_

Zoro narrows his eyes at him,

"I'm not a demon."

Volron growls at him,

_"We know, we're not talking specifically you, we're talking about your inner demon. You think your the only person to have a pool of blood within their psyche? No, most people have this, yours is just especially potent and large and buried beneath the blood is your demon."_

Zoro looks down at the blood that was below him,

"So there's a demon within the water, what's it like?"

Ashura shrugs,

_"Who knows, everyone's is different."_

With that Zoro suddenly drops into the blood, oddly enough he was completely calm about this situation as he slowly sank into the blood. He would descend quickly for minutes not seeing anything, when he finally hit the bottom he laid there motionless for a few moments. But he finally moved when he sensed something moving within the depths, shifting his body so that it would no longer be laying down he tries to activate his Observation Haki to find what was in the blood with him. His Observation Haki for some bizarre reason wasn't working properly so he could only get fragments of the creature, but even so the form of the creature caused Zoro to tense up. The creature about a size of a shark darts towards him, sensing this Zoro quickly unsheathes his blades and tries to direct the beast away. This doesn't work as the beast slams into him sending him flying back through the blood, but with that a large part of the blood clears away leaving a large area completely untouched by the blood. Zoro stands up and looks around for the beast, the creature was intent on not entering the spot but was slowly circling around Zoro.

**"Pathetic."**

Zoro narrows his eyes as he follows the movement of the beast,

"What are you?!"

The creature chuckles at Zoro,

**"I am your fears, your insecurities, your sadness, I am everything you try to hide away!"**

Zoro dashes forward hoping to cut the creature down, but the creature was much faster than him swatting Zoro away like a fly,

"Why do you take the form of the Leviathan?"

The creature shoots through the water stabbing on of it's limbs into Zoro shoulder and tearing it before entering the blood again,

**"This creature is the one you fear the most right now, wouldn't it be appropriate that your demon is the creature you fear the most."**

Zoro growls at the creature,

"Jinsoku!"

He charges at it relentlessly trying to cut it, but the demon was dodging every strike that Zoro would throw at it. Zoro was growing more and more annoyed at this,

**"Hahaha, you can't touch me swordsman! You can't tear apart your fears if you can't embrace them!"**

Zoro growls at him and jumps back, he pauses for a moment trying to think of a way to strike the beast. He keeps his eyes trained on the beast,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

But nothing happened, Decimation wouldn't merge with him. He grunts as while he was confused the demon lashed out again, this time taking a stab at his leg.

"What the hell, Decimation why didn't you merge?"

Zoro didn't receive an answer, he continued to grow more and more annoyed at the situation. He would try to attack the beast but would never be able to land a strike and he got no help from the other three demons, he growled in annoyance and pain.

"There has to be something I'm missing here."

The beast laughed and mocked him,

**"Not only are you weak you're also stupid! Hahaha, it's so simple yet you can't even figure it out!"**

Zoro pauses for a moment digesting it's words, it said that you couldn't tear apart fear if you can't embrace it. Zoro grumbles at himself for not figuring that out earlier, he lowers his blades and stands straight waiting for the beast to show itself. Closing his eyes he allows his other senses to direct him, in an instant the beast shot out hoping to tear a chunk of Zoro.

"I am scared."

He swipes his blades up, this time he had landed cutting one of the beasts limbs off. The beast recoils and retreats back into the blood, Zoro stands stock-still waiting for it to come for him again. He wouldn't have to wait long,

**"Don't get cocky!"**

The beast dives at him,

"I am weak."

He side steps the demon and directs Sandai Kitetsu into it's eye tearing it out, the beast screams and dives back into the blood. It quickly scurries around circling Zoro at an even faster pace, Zoro opens his eyes and watches the beast rapidly dart around. It's control over the battle slowly diminishing causing the surrounding blood to slowly churn,

**"I'll kill you! Piasu Aku"**

The beast dives at him once again this time from above dead set on killing Zoro,

"That is why I need my nakama to live, because without them I would be lost!"

With that Zoro brings all three blades together and swipes at the surrounding blood causing it to churn even more wildly,

"Chi no Tatsumaki!"

He directs the blood around him into a spiral and slams it into the demon, he concentrates on the spiral of blood trying to hold it together long enough to kill the beast. The two attacks clash but with the beast losing it's composure and descending into anger, it's power had diminished significantly letting Zoro easily win that clash. The spiral of blood tears apart the beast entirely causing a shower of blood to rain down, Zoro closes his eyes and looks up enjoying the shower of blood before grinning.

"Let's do this!"

Volron scoffs,

_"Took you long enough, we were growing bored here watching you get beat around by a tiny Leviathan."_

Too happy to let Volron tear apart his mood Zoro turns towards Ashura, Ashura smiles at him,

_"This is going to hurt and don't blame us if you die."_

Zoro chuckles,

"Don't worry I'm never going to die again."

Volron scoffs and mutters under his breath,

_"Big words for a man that's almost died multiple times."_

Ashura ignores Volron and starts chanting in some language that Zoro didn't understand, Decimation runs up to him and grins,

"Don't die, it would be boring if you were to just die here!"

Zoro wanted to respond but at the moment he was engulfed in pain.

~On The Outside~

Nami could only watch as Zoro's body starts to convulse, she wanted to help but when she got close she was blasted back. Groaning she looks up to find Zoro floating a few feet off the ground and yelling in pain, not knowing what to do Nami could only watch and pray that whatever was happening wasn't killing him. But after a few moments some unknown energy bursts from Zoro's body blasting her back and destroying the surrounding area even more, she could see what was going on as right afterward Zoro was engulfed in a giant black orb. She sat there scared and very confused she then proceeded to watch the orb spin before ultimately exploding spitting out Zoro, who had came out of the black orb landed on his feet steadily. He wiped off the bit of blood that was covering his face before looking around, he notices Nami,

"How long was I out?"

Nami struggles to speak,

"A-about five or six m-minutes."

He quirks his eyebrows before grinning,

"Five to six minutes not bad."

Finally Nami calms herself down,

"What the hell happened?!"

He grins at her,

"Don't worry about it."

He walks away and turns towards the direction where the Strawhats were fighting Oars,

"I'll be leaving now, you can find your own way there."

Before Nami could say anything Zoro rips the rest of his shirt off revealing a tattoo of two wings on his back that hadn't been there before, curious Nami watches Zoro toss his shirt away before pausing. He stretches his arms back cracking his back before grinning,

"Now let's see how this works."

At that Nami watches fascinated as the tattoo slowly turns into two actual wings, when they fully emerge Zoro looks at them both. Flapping them a bit to test it out, happy with the results he grins at her before taking off.

~With The Other Strawhats~

They were fighting a losing battle against Oars without the help of both Luffy and Zoro, they were just trying to stay alive and distract Oars at this point. They got their hopes up when Robin got Gecko Moria in a headlock ready to snap his neck,

"Cuatra Mano Clutch!"

The Strawhats all stare in shock before prematurely celebrating,

"Kishishishi, almost got me but not quite. Doppleman and I can switch locations at any time, I win this round."

Gecko Moria makes a grab for her shadow,

"Genshi Shokku!"

The Strawhats weren't sure what happened but all they saw was something slam into Moria causing him to fly into the building to the right, they look around to see what it was but the first one to find it was Robin.

"Zoro?!"

The Strawhats all look up to see a grinning Zoro with the addition of two pitch black wings upon his back, he grins at their shocked expressions,

"Did you miss me?"

**That's a wrap with the way the story is heading now, I'm going to be focusing a lot more on the demon aspect that I had added. I know I kind of overlooked the whole Demon Wind thing and didn't expand upon it much, but I'm going to start doing that now. I kind of like how the story is progressing and I already have a slight idea for what to do that Sabaody, well after Sabaody technically since Sabaody wasn't really a long spanning arc it was more of a gateway arc leading to other stories. Though with the story about to reach Sabaody that means I have to decided whether or not the Strawhats would separate for the two year time-skip, though I had originally thought about keeping the crew together when I first started the story. I think I'm going to have the Strawhats separate instead so I could add a bit of little thing with Zoro, like I'm entertaining the idea of Zoro meeting Satan wouldn't that be fun. Though that's still an idea that I'm not sure whether or not to expand upon, though if I do separate them than the time-skip is probably going to be the arc that takes up a large majority of chapters for a bit and will take longer to write since I have no canon material to build on, it's gonna be all original baby. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	26. Rematch with the Tyrant

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man****, there's also a poll on my profile so vote for that!**

The Strawhats all stare in shock at Zoro who had wings and was flying for god's sake, he chuckles at their reactions before turning back to keep an eye on the recovering Moria. He lands and retracts his wings turning it back into the tattoo, he stretched a bit,

"Not bad, powerful and easy to manage just perfect."

With that Zoro walks towards the crew,

"You guys alright?"

They all looked a bit worse for wear but nowhere near dead, still in a stupor they nod their heads. Zoro chuckles at this before unsheathing his blades and walking towards Moria menacingly,

"Now your battles is against me Moria!"

Moria looks at Zoro before grumbling,

"You are overconfident just because you got a lucky shot off, if I'm serious you won't be able to survive even a minute!"

Zoro chuckles at him,

"You sure about that?"

Moria opens his mouth to speak only for Zoro to interrupt him,

"Jinsoku!"

He shoots forward and brings Shusui down onto Moria's surprised face, slashing straight through him Zoro narrows his eyes,

"Tch, forgot about your ability."

Moria lets out a breath of relief and watches Zoro cautiously, he had barely managed to switch with Doppleman before Zoro had struck. Sitting within Oars body Moria growls at Zoro,

"I'll kill you! Get him Oars!"

He would charge at them if a voice didn't interrupt him, it was Chopper standing atop Oars right shoulder. He was yelling at them to aim for Oar's right arm, Sanji charges in readily before Zoro could say anything. He growls knowing what was about to happen to them, composing himself he charges forward to try stop Oars from landing a strike on the two of them. Activating his wings he shoots forward and readies his blades,

"Ashura no Kohai!"

The attack slams into Oars causing him to stumble backward stopping him from attacking Sanji or Chopper, he keeps a watchful eye on Sanji and Chopper to make sure they won't get attacked while also keeping most of his focus on Oars.

"Get back you two! He's as strong as Luffy with the benefit of a much stronger body, you have to be careful about your every move!"

They both nod at him obviously exhausted and head back to the rest of the crew, Zoro pulls up the rear just to make sure Oars doesn't come after them. While running back Zoro sees a figure shooting across the air above them, he looks up to see that it was Brook who was flying straight towards Oars. He watches carefully as he pierces straight through his shoulder causing Oars to growl at them in an annoyed tone,

"Why do you keep on going after my arm?!"

Zoro spins around to face Oars,

"If you can do something why not do it?"

Oars pauses and looks at Zoro confused, Zoro grins at him coating his blade with Soul-Devouring Flames. He shoots towards Oars intent on striking him,

"Jinsoku!"

It the instant he activated it his speed increased ten-fold surprising Oars,

"Hono no Tatsumaki!"

This attack was identical to Chi no Tatsumaki, but it replaced the blood with black flames which would have the added benefit of also burning the target. The attack slams into Oars causing him to scream as he's rocketed backwards into the castle, Zoro hops back stabilizing himself and grinning at his handiwork. At that moment a figure appeared to Zoro's right, emerging from the dust and smoke was a hulking blue figure that resembled Luffy. Zoro quirks an eyebrow at this but chooses to ignore it to focus on Oars who was slowly getting back up, he stalks towards him with Shusui ready to slice him and Gecko Moria up. Moria groans as he crawls out of the hole in Oars stomach,

"You are testing my patience swordsman!"

Zoro narrows his eyes as he senses the fog above Thriller Bark slowly dispersing,

"I don't have time for this!"

He charges forward hoping to end Moria there so that the others shadows would be returned, Gecko Moria simply grins at Zoro's unmoving. Zoro slashes him only for Moria to disperse into shadows, he growls at Moria's cowardly way of fighting,

"Luffy get Moria, I'll handle Doppleman and Oars!"

Nightmare Luffy nods at Zoro before running towards Moria, Zoro turns back to see Oars charging at him.

"I'll crush you little man!"

Zoro scowls,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

He jumps out the way and merges with Decimation, this boost was all he needed as he gets his footing before immediately shooting towards Oars.

"Kyodai Ashura Hakai!"

The strike cuts Oars right arms off and leaves several large slash wounds littering his entire body, though he showed no reaction to this Zoro knew that Oars body wouldn't be able to take it much longer.

"You cut my arm off! I'm gonna beat you up!"

Zoro scoffs at Oars but doesn't speak knowing that he would only be wasting words, he avoids Oars strikes and tries to think of the best way to destroy Oars now. Not being able to think of anything he goes with what he thinks might work,

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

The fireball shoots towards the unsuspecting Oars catching him by surprise,

"Ahhh fire!"

Zoro takes advantage of his distracted state and runs towards Usopp,

"Get me into the catapult thing now!"

Being shaken from his stupor Usopp readies the sling with Zoro in it, he shoots towards Oars taking all of his blades out for his next attack,

"Ashura Torio Hakai!"

The slash cuts through Oars neck,

"Tch, didn't cut it completely through it."

Oars had a huge gap on the right side of his neck but his head was still upon his head, he spins towards Zoro intent on bringing him down. Zoro unfurls his wings to avoid the strike from Oars, feeling very annoyed that he was still unable to defeat Oars he enters his Ashura form,

"Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

Flying up into the sky he positions himself directly above Oars before descending at a very fast pace,

"Ashura Hakai: Ajimasuburesu!"

Oars looks up hearing his voice just to see Zoro barely a meter away from him, he tries to avoid the strike but Zoro had already cut into him. With that Oars collapses with his head in ribbons, Zoro lands and lets out a breath of relief dissipating his Ashura form. He watches as Luffy's shadow exits Oars body smiling, he spots something moving behind the fallen body of Oars. Squinting he notices that it was Doppleman who was hiding behind Oars, sighing he looks around for Luffy hoping that he would defeat Moria soon. Seeing as Sanji's shadow was still within Moria's possession and they were going to be exposed to sunlight soon, so they would have to hurry up if they didn't want Sanji to disappear. He would be able to find them soon enough seeing as Moria started gathering all the shadows so to enter the gigantic shadow filled state hoping to stop Luffy, he sighs and follows the shadows as they fly towards Moria. Luffy had resumed his old form and was very exhausted from his battle so he would have to defeat him soon or he would fall, the rest of the Strawhats joined Zoro as they watched Luffy fight. Zoro spares a glance behind them to see sunlight slowly engulf Thriller Bark, he sighs and yells at Luffy,

"Hurry up Luffy or else the cook bites the dust!"

Sanji glares at him and a few of the Strawhats yell at him for his insensitive comment but he ignores them, carefully watching to make sure that Luffy would defeat Gecko Moria in time. Though he shouldn't be doubting Luffy that doesn't mean he would be completely free from his anxiousness, though all would be fine as Luffy would defeat Gecko Moria just in time while Sanji's body was slowly disappearing. Zoro chuckles at this and walks forward to Luffy's exhausted and unconscious body,

"You did great captain, rest easy now, we'll deal with everything else now."

Everyone looked at him oddly,

"What else is there to deal with?"

Zoro's face becomes much more grim,

"We won't won't just be allowed to leave after we just defeated a Shichibukai, right Tyrant Bartholomew Kuma?"

Everyone looks at him in shock some in disbelief, before they could say anything a voice catches their attention,

"Quite right you are Demon Wind Zoro."

Everyone snaps their head towards the voice to see Kuma standing on a fallen pillar with a Denden-Mushi in hand, Zoro looks up to glare at Kuma,

"How about you leave us alone, we leave the island. Nobody gets hurt and we gain nothing but also lose nothing."

Kuma's face still remained blank,

"You are wrong there, I truly have nothing to lose from this but I have something to gain. The heads of the Strawhat Pirates."

Zoro's glare deepens,

"Guys get out of here now."

Nami calls to him,

"No! You fought him once already you lost, you can't think that you can do anything against him. Especially after your injuries!"

The Strawhats all look at Nami confused before finally studying Zoro to find that he had indeed suffered severe injuries, they wanted to argue to stay behind and fight Kuma together but Zoro stops this by throwing Luffy's body at them.

"I said get out of here! With all of us together there still isn't a good enough chance we could defeat without anyone dying or getting mortally wounded!"

They all turn to argue but Zoro had already unsheathed all three of his blades and charged towards Kuma, putting as much strength as he could currently muster behind it intending to send Kuma flying so that his crew and the others had time to escape. Kuma dodges to the right but Zoro had anticipated this twisting his body in an angle in which his blades would strike dead on, Kuma is pushed back a few feet but still remains mostly unharmed. Zoro growls,

"Why would the Marines send you to take us out?!"

Kuma still blank faced responds,

"They are worried that you will one day grow to be a threat to the World Government."

Zoro couldn't help but grin at his answer,

"Then maybe I should prove to you that I'm not going to be a threat, but that I'm already a threat."

Not exactly the smartest thing to say but his excitement and eagerness to have a rematch was clouding his judgement, he charges in with a maniacal grin on his face relentlessly striking Kuma. Some attacks landing some not but one thing he did notice was that Kuma had barely tried to counter-attack, he narrows his eyes at this and jumps back.

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

Merging with Decimation he charges in again this time much faster and his strikes were much more powerful,

"Ittoryu lai: Shishi Sonson!"

Spinning around Zoro jumps in for another attack this time aimed at Kuma's legs,

"Nigiri: Hirameki!"

This time Kuma sees the attack coming and stops it,

"Pad Ho!"

The attack slams into Zoro's back causing him to momentarily lose focus, he coughs out blood before regaining his senses. Remembering that he was in the middle of a battle he immediately rolls to the side so to avoid another attack, he jumps back and line of blood that formed in the corner of his lip. They both stare at each other before Zoro once again charges in,

"Rengoku Oni Giri!"

The attack lands causing Kuma to be violently thrown to the side and three slashes to appear upon his body, though he didn't show it Kuma was slowly growing impatient at this. Not wanting to deal with this any longer he prepares himself to finally strike the swordsman down, he disappears from Zoro's sight. Zoro narrows his eyes and activates his Observation Haki to sense that Kuma was right behind him, he turns but was to late as Kuma was already mid-strike.

"Pad Ho!"

The strike was point blank at Zoro's face blasting Zoro back slamming him into the pillar that Kuma had previously been standing on,

"Uhh you bear bastard, how the hell does your Devil Fruit even work!"

Kuma doesn't answer as he slowly stalks towards Zoro,

"You have lost Demon Wind give up now."

Zoro grins darkly at Kuma with blood dripping down his chin,

"Bite me."

He brings his blades together and shoots towards Kuma,

"Santoryu Ogi: Sanzen Sekai!"

The attack lands tearing into the unsuspecting Kuma, causing him to cough up a bit of blood and losing a bit of his composure.

"I will only say this once swordsman give up or die."

Zoro chuckles darkly at him,

"If I give up then you'll just kill me so what's the difference?!"

Kuma's blank face turns into a frown,

"Then you will die a painful one instead of a quick and painless one."

He jumps into the air and descends upon Zoro, Zoro holds his swords in a defensive position hoping to block whatever Kuma was going to do.

"Kuma no Te!"

Kuma slams his hand onto Zoro's blades causing the shock wave to detonate on them, the force of the shock wave tore apart the ground and rubble surrounding them. Zoro was desperately trying to hold on as the shock wave tore at his body, causing him to cough up vast amounts of blood. The pain that it caused him was excruciating, he couldn't sure with his whole body racking with pain but he felt that he may have cracked his left femur and maybe a few ribs with just that impact alone. Kuma relents with his attack letting Zoro slowly fall to the ground in a bloody heap,

"You should have surrendered swordsman."

Zoro was in too much pain to respond, trying to calm himself down he struggles to get up. Kuma sees this,

"Do not struggle any longer, it will only prolong your suffering."

Zoro ignores him and continues to get up, Kuma sighs,

"Do not say that I did not warn you."

Zoro didn't know what he was talking about but the only though on his mind right now was to survive, he gets up and stumbles back. With droopy eyes he looks towards Kuma, once he does his eyes widens and he tenses up.

"Goodbye Demon Wind Zoro, Ursus Shock!"

The paw slams into him and Zoro only had a moment to register what happened before pain overloaded all his senses,

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Even though he was completely overwhelmed by the pain, through raw willpower Zoro remained standing gripping all of his blades,

"You w-won't get to m-my crew, Tyrant Kuma."

Kuma slowly walks up to him,

"Do not struggle anymore, you are already in such a pitiful state. There is no need to push this any further."

_"Just give up, you can't beat him with you current strength. There's no point in trying, lay down now so that you can come back later even stronger."_

He wanted to but he knew that after this there would be no way for him to recover, the Marines would capture and execute him. If he at least stopped Kuma from reaching his crew then he has already achieved all that he needed to do,

"With your current state there is nothing you can do to stop me, so I must continue with my mission and exterminate all of you."

Zoro freezes at this, he wasn't completely sure of Kuma's abilities but he was sure that he would be able to catch up to the Strawhats without much issue. Gritting his teeth Zoro pulls his blades up to enter a offensive stance,

"I-I will stop you!"

Kuma stares at him with a blank expression,

"How exactly are you going to do that in your current state?"

Zoro glares at Kuma but he knew he was right, just standing up was taking everything out of him at this point. How would he be able to stop Kuma if he couldn't even move?

"Come on man, I thought you were stronger!"

Zoro blinks recognizing the voice as Decimation,

"What else can I do, my bodies almost completely destroyed."

Decimation blows a raspberry at him,

"Use Primal Yggdrasil."

Zoro pauses,

"Primal Yggdrasil?"

Decimation chuckles,

"You really though something as powerful as Yggdrasil couldn't get even stronger, Primal Yggdrasil is much more powerful. Though the cost of using it is quite steep."

Zoro chuckles at him,

"I'm about to die so I don't think any price wouldn't be worth it."

Decimation makes a sound that sounded like an excited clap,

"Yay, then I'll just borrow your body for a second."

Zoro blinks,

"Wha?"

But it already happened, Decimation took over Zoro's body, within Zoro's body he stands straight and points Shusui at Kuma.

"Too bad bear man, I'm using the bosses body now."

Kuma stares blankly at him but was curious at what was about to happen, Decimation using Zoro's body squats down holding only Shusui like a baseball player.

"Bye bye bear man, Primal Yggdrasil!"

Decimation closes the distance between them in an instant and launches the green colored strike at Kuma, Kuma puts his hand up expecting to block the strike. But to his surprise the strike goes through his hand and slams into his chest, though the most unbelievable part of it was not only did it land it had also blasted him away. He had entered an entirely different environment, he props himself up with his hands and looks around. He spots Garp and Sengoku looking at him with shocked faces,

"How the hell did you get here?!"

Kuma touches his chest noticing the wound,

"Demon Wind Zoro, you are much more powerful than I had imagined."

Garp and Sengoku could only continue to stare in shock at the appearance of Kuma.

~Back At Thriller Bark~

"Boss man, jobs done."

Zoro regains bodily functions and mutters an exhausted thanks before collapsing onto the ground, he would remain on the floor for an unknown amount of time. He hears footsteps racing towards him, he strains himself to turn towards the sound and see who it was. His vision was a bit spotty but he could still make out that it was the Strawhats, they run to check on him and all Zoro could manage was a small grin before he fell unconscious. The Strawhats all panic as they look at Zoro's injured state,

"Someone find a doctor!"

Chopper instantly rushes over to him checking on his condition, the rest of the Strawhats would stand back and watch anxiously as Chopper checked on Zoro. Chopper calls them to make a spot that Zoro could properly lay in while he recovered and with the help of Lola's Pirates they managed to do this quite quickly, as anxious as they were they weren't completely depressed over the situation. This was Zoro they were talking about, if he heard that they just moped around while he was recovering then they would get an earful from him. Add to the fact that he wouldn't die not until he would achieve what he needed to, so they proceeded to celebrate their victory over yet another Shichibukai. Everyone was having fun, drinking eating, laughing, playing. The only one that wasn't celebrating was Zoro who was still unconscious followed by Chopper, Nami and Robin who were keeping a close eye on him but still celebrating with the rest of them. This celebration would continue for hours on end, eventually Chopper, Nami and Robin would be dragged into it finally losing their focus on Zoro. They join in on the celebrations and they party till the sunset before slowing down,

"Now we have to welcome our new nakama Brook!"

Luffy laughs and the rest of the Strawhats slowly follow him as they head back to where Zoro was resting, they freeze once they arrive seeing that Zoro was missing. Luffy starts to panic,

"Where's Zoro?! Zoro! ZORO!"

Nami smacks him over the head,

"Calm down we'll find him, just yelling like that won't help us much!"

While this was happening Robin had noticed something,

"Guys there is a blood trail, if we follow it we should find him."

They all nod at her and race towards the blood trail, they follow the trail for minutes before finally coming upon a cliff on the island. They look around a bit searching for Zoro, they find him sitting on the edge of the cliff in a meditative stance. Chopper runs towards him,

"You shouldn't be moving, your injuries still haven't healed yet!"

Zoro doesn't respond sitting there silently staring off the cliff,

"Zoro?"

The rest of the Strawhats slowly walk up to see what was wrong, but to their surprise nothing was wrong. Zoro was simply sleeping, they all face fault at this before chuckling to themselves. They knew he would survive but to drag his injured body all the way here just to meditate, well that idea was just so bizarre to them. He laugh before shaking him hoping that he would wake up, they wait a moment hoping that he would wake up but they were met with a snore. Sighing they get Franky to carry him as they returned back to their ship, they start loading things onto their ship leaving Zoro to rest while they prepare to set off.

~A Few Hours Later~

Zoro awakens with a groan his body was aching and he didn't want to move at all, but being lazy wasn't going to get him anywhere so he strained himself to at least sit up. This proved to be even more difficult as his entire body was covered by bandages, but that was understandable since he was riddled with injuries. Not wanting that to stop him he stands up and stumbles out of the room he looks around to try find the rest of the crew but he doesn't see anyone, grumbling he grabs his swords and heads to the back of the ship to meditate.

"Ya shouldn't train boss."

Zoro grumbles at him,

"I'm not training, I'm just going to meditate a bit. Though I would like to learn to use Primal Yggdrasil."

Decimation chuckles at him,

"Not gonna teach ya until you get better boss."

Zoro rolls his eyes and tunes out anything else Decimation would have to say, prompting to meditate instead of listening to the very child-like blade. Not being able to ignore the ache in his body he opens his eyes and stares off,

_"You could have died there my friend."_

Zoro sighs,

"I know, but I didn't and that's all that matters."

He could feel Ashura frown at this,

_"You've been brushing up to death way too much, maybe you should allow your allies to pitch in once in a while. That should probably reduce the chances of you dying or you know ending up in a completely broken state."_

Zoro grumbles at him,

"I don't always end up in a broken state, I only occasionally do."

Ashura sighs,

_"Still not a good thing."_

Zoro sighs at him,

"Well what do you want me to do, I know that they can't handle it and that I'm the only person that has a remote chance of surviving it."

Ashura is silent,

"If you have an actual solution I would love to hear it, but until you do I would prefer if you didn't spout nonsense like that so easily."

He sighs and puts a hand over his chest feeling the ache of the spot where Kuma shot, he groans at the pain that just touching it had caused. Grumbling he stands up and heads back to the main part of the ship, once getting there he climbs up the mast to reach the crows nest. Though he was very annoyed at the slow pace that he did this in he could only sigh knowing that until he completely healed it would be difficult to move or do anything as effectively as he did before. Once he reached the top he found Robin sitting there reading a book, surprised at her being here Zoro speaks,

"Robin? What are yo doing here?"

Robin looks up at her book and smiles at him,

"Am I not allowed to be here?"

Zoro coughs clearly embarrassed at his question,

"Well, no but you don't usually spend your time here."

She chuckles at him,

"I simply felt like finding a new spot to read today."

Zoro sighs and nods, he heads to the side and proceeds to undo his bandages but Robin speaks up,

"I believe that keeping the bandages on would be more beneficial to your health, so I would be opposed to you removing them."

Zoro quirks his eyebrow,

"They make it difficult for me to move."

She closes her books and looks at him,

"I believe that is the point of it."

Zoro sighs,

"Cut me some slack, I don't like being confined in anyway and these are pretty close."

She walks to him,

"Fair enough."

She sits behind him and helps undo a few of the bandages on his body, mournfully studying the extent of damage that Kuma had done to him. He flinches when Robin puts a hand on his back slowly tracing his injuries,

"You should have ran with us."

Zoro sighs,

"Then he would have caught up with everyone, no it would be better to use myself as a distraction while you guys escaped."

She tenses up a bit,

"If we did truly escape then you would have died."

He turns around to face her,

"Then better I die than the rest of you."

She curls her hand into a fist,

"Do you truly value your life that little?"

Sighing Zoro lays on the ground,

"It's not that I don't value my own life, it's more so that I value the lives of the crew more than mine. So I am willingly to give up mine so that none of you shall ever lose your own."

They sit there silently for a few moments before Robin speaks up,

"How do you think we'll feel?"

Zoro lifts his head up to look at her confused,

"What do you mean?"

He could see her slightly trembling,

"How do you think the crew would react to your death? You think we'll just go on with our lives like you were never there, you are an integral part of our lives."

Zoro sighs,

"I know it won't be easy but you will have to face the facts soon enough, there was nothing you could do about it. All you can do now is live you life to the fullest so that my sacrifice wasn't squandered."

They reach yet another silence as Zoro tried and failed to read her expression, while Robin took it all in with a sense of sadness and dread. Zoro sighs and stands up,

"I'll just leave you alone then."

He heads towards the hatch but is stopped by Robin who held onto his arm, he turns towards her thinking he was ready for any reaction she would have to his words. Though she tops that by giving a reaction he didn't expect, a tear-filled kiss, he stands there stunned as she takes a step back. She places a hand on his face,

"None of us want you to die, but what I feel is very different from what they would feel at the news of your demise."

With that Robin walks past him exiting the crows nest, Zoro stands there stunned for moments before sitting down suddenly feeling exhausted.

"What the hell just happened?"

Ashura and Decimation both chuckle at him but don't give him an answer, he sits there confused for minutes before slapping himself back to reality. He walks over to the side of the crows nest and looks out to see the rest of the crew doing various activities, though Robin's words had affected him deeply watching the crew playing around and having fun just cemented the fact that he had to protect all of them. He smiles as he watched them,

_"You know whats coming next right?"_

At that Zoro's smile drops,

"Yea I know."

_"What are you going to do about it?"_

Zoro sighs,

"There isn't much I can do especially in my condition, but all I can manage now is to stop Luffy from attacking the Celestial Dragon."

Ashura scoffs,

_"Stopping your captain from doing something he wants? You must be stupid to think you can do that."_

Zoro rolls his eyes,

"My options are limited here, so I'll take what I can."

With that Zoro looks towards the setting sun fully determined to do whatever he could to protect the people he cared for.

**That's a wrap this was an interesting chapter for me to write, it wasn't my favorite but I didn't exactly hate it either. Do I think I could have made it better? Yes. I just kinda ran into a wall right after Decimation shot Kuma away, for those that aren't exactly sure where he landed I would say Kuma landed in Marineford. A bit insane and out there? Yes and I love it, though after this chapter it's gonna take an odd turn once they reach Sabaody. I rather not deal with the Duval thing that happened before they reached Sabaody, though to get the the Marines to converge onto Sabaody I would need Camie to be kidnapped and for Luffy to punch a Celestial Dragon. Though I could go about this another way that might or might not have an admiral appear, I'm still playing with a few ideas but I seem pretty dead set on having Satan appear so yea... look forward to that I guess. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	27. Separation

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man****, there's also a poll on my profile so vote for that!**

The Strawhats are slowly sailing towards Sabaody Archipelago, Zoro had camped out in the crows nest for the past couple days. Either training, sleeping or meditating for hours on end, the Strawhats had left him alone for the most part only getting Robin or Sanji to bring some food up for him whenever he doesn't appear for meals. Though once in a while Chopper would come up to scold him for training even though he was injured, but Zoro didn't listen to him most of the time. His thoughts were still on the conversation he had with Robin after he woke up, after they talked Robin had mostly ignored him prompting not to speak to him which was annoying him. Though he didn't have the time to deal with it, they were slowly getting closer to Sabaody and the threat of separation was getting closer and closer.

_"Maybe you can grab the rest of those Supernova's or whatever to help you."_

Zoro pauses for a second before becoming downcast,

"How am I going to convince them to help us? No, these are pirates they don't just go around helping people. I can't expect any help from them I have to figure everything out myself."

Ashura doesn't respond and Zoro sits there silently before sighing,

"There isn't much I can do besides stop Luffy from attacking the Celestial Dragon, but that's a challenge in itself."

Zoro knew that Ashura wasn't there but talking to himself was helping to calm him down,

"My body's still injured so I can't fight at the same level that I was at before my defeat by Kuma, so training won't help me much in this sense. I was never good at negotiating but maybe I could get Luffy to stay away from the Celestial Dragons, that would ultimately a way to stop the arrival of Kizaru and the Pacifista."

He was interrupted by a voice,

"Oy Marimo, we've reached Sabaody!"

Zoro tenses and rushes to the side looking out the window, time seemed to have passed so quickly for him. He thought they still had a couple hours before they would arrive but here they were, he takes a deep breath to calm himself before heading down the crows nest. He watches as the rest of the Strawhats look at Sabaody in awe, the only thing he could muster was a strained smile at them when he got down. They dock the ship in a secluded area so that the Marines wouldn't find it and start discussing what to do,

"Let's explore!"

Nami scolds him,

"We don't know who else could be on this island, we can't just rush in."

Zoro sighs and sits down to the side listening in on them,

"I-I can take you guys around the place!"

He turns to see that it was Hatchan, narrowing his eyes he comes to the conclusion that the Strawhats must have ran into Duval while he was asleep or something like that. He stands up and says something before they leave,

"Guys, when you come back I'm going to teach you all something that will be very useful once we enter the New World."

They nod at him and set off, Zoro sits against the railing watching as the Strawhats leave the his sight. Sighing he stands up and jumps off the ship and starts walking, Sanji and Usopp notice this and quirk their eyebrows at him,

"Where you going?"

Zoro waves them off,

"Got someone I have to visit before we all head into town."

They look at him oddly before nodding leaving Zoro to walk away, he heads towards Shakky's rip-off bar. He enters to see Shakky shaking an unconscious man, she notices him and smiles at him,

"Welcome to Shakky's Rip-off Bar, what can I get you."

Zoro quirks an eyebrow and looks towards the unconscious man, Shakky chuckles and proceeds to throw him out. Zoro sweatdrops at this but clears his throat,

"I'm looking for Rayleigh."

She looks at him oddly,

"No idea where he is, probably off with some young girl or something."

Zoro blinks once, then twice before groaning, he forgot that Rayleigh was at the auction house not at Shakky's bar. He sighs and heads towards the door,

"Why do you want to find Rayleigh?"

Zoro tiredly looks at her,

"Got some business with him."

She chuckles at him,

"A lot of people owe him money, he probably won't be able to pay you right now."

Zoro waves her off and exits the bar,

"It's not money and he doesn't owe me, it's a life debt and I owe him."

With that Zoro leaves the bar in search of the auction house, while walking towards the town his anxiousness was slowly rising more and more. He should have gone to make sure that Luffy wouldn't do anything or at least told someone to do that, it would have increased the chances in which they would avoid an Admiral arriving. Sighing he enters the town and looks around this time taking in the surrounding area and keeping out for the Celestial Dragon, he hears a commotion coming from a restaurant and heads in the direction curious to see what was going on. He walks into the restaurant and looks around to find the source of the commotion and sees two people that stood out among the masses, one was a pink-haired girl that was sitting on a table eating large quantities of food while the other was an older man who looked like a mafia boss who was glaring at the pink-haired girl. But they both stop what they're doing when they notice Zoro walk into the restaurant they both look at him cautiously while the rest of the bar starts to whisper,

"That's "Demon" Wind Zoro, he's part of the Strawhat crew that took down one of the Shichibukai!"

"I heard that he also fought The "Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma and sent him flying all the way to Marineford!"

He narrows his eyes at this before looking at the two pirates again, he walks up to them,

"You guys know where the auction house is?"

Bege narrows his eyes and opens his mouth to speak but Bonney interrupts him,

"What's it to you?"

Bege stares at her like she was a vulgar creature as she was talking with a completely stuffed mouth very reminiscent of Luffy, Zoro chuckles,

"I just want to find the auction house to make sure nothing bad will happen."

They both narrow their eyes at him,

"Bad how?"

He quirks an eyebrow at them,

"Like a Marine Admiral coming down bad."

They look at him shocked, Bonney snorts,

"The only way they would come down is if someone were to attack the Tenryuubito."

Zoro stares at her blankly,

"You're joking, what kind of idiot would attack a Tenryuubito?!"

Zoro sighs,

"My captain would be one."

Bonney sighs at him,

"That guy's trouble, you should stop him."

He glares at her,

"That's why I asked if you knew where the auction house is."

Bege was finally able to get a word in,

"Head down the street and take a right at the end you should be able to see the auction house from there."

Zoro nods and turns towards the door,

"Thanks."

He grabs a bottle of sake on his way out causing Bonney to yell,

"Hey! That was mine!"

But he was already gone leaving a fuming Bonney and a thoughtful Bege, finally after a while Bege calls to his crew,

"Let's move out boys, if what Demon Winds says is true it would be better if we were to leave the island before Strawhat does something like that!"

They all respond and start heading out leaving just Bonney in the restaurant, she huffs and storms out of the restaurant causing her crew to chase after her. Zoro slowly walks down the street keeping a watchful eye on the people around him, unfortunately he runs into something he didn't want to. It was a fight between Killer and Urouge, he sighs and watches as they battle for a while before they're stopped by X Drake. He says a few words to them stopping them from fighting and they both relax before finally noticing Zoro,

"Well if it isn't "Demon" Wind Zoro."

He sighs and looks at them,

"What's it to you?"

Urouge keeps up his smile while Drake stares at Zoro cautiously,

"Are you here to cause trouble?"

Zoro rubs the back of his neck,

"No, quite the opposite actually. I'm looking for my captain so to make sure he won't cause any trouble."

Law who was silently sitting tot he side speaks up,

"A bounty of 315 Million Berries, quite impressive."

Zoro narrows his eyes at Law,

"What about it?"

Law chuckles,

"I wonder why they would give you such a high bounty, but then again there has been word circulating around that you defeated the "Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma."

Zoro sighs at him,

"No, I didn't I was completely outclassed, in the end I only got lucky and managed to land a lucky strike with all my power."

With that Zoro moves to walk past them but is stopped when Urouge steps in front of him,

"Though to defeat a Shichibukai and fight another one without rest is quite impressive, I would love to test out how powerful you truly are Demon Wind!"

Zoro sighs and in an instant the surrounding area drops a few degrees as Zoro exuded massive amounts of killing intent, the four Supernovas look at Zoro to see his eyes gleaming red and what seemed to be flames slowly appearing on his arms. They all sweat at the pressure that he was emitting, but Law the one who was the least affected by his pressure speaks up,

"Now I thought you were trying to avoid trouble Zoro-ya, starting a fight now would only prove otherwise."

Zoro sighs and dissipates his oppressive aura, he walks past the four Supernovas leaving them with a few words,

"Don't test me or I'll cut down all of you."

With that Zoro continues on his way to the auction house, the four Supernovas all collectively let out a breath of relief,

"Man if the first mate is like this just imagine the captain."

They don't respond to Urouge's words,

"Those Strawhats are a crazy bunch but I think he takes the cake, I wouldn't call him crazy I would say he would be more of a demon than anything."

They could all agree with that after the display of killing intent he just directed at them. Sighing Zoro hurries up a bit hooping to reach his destination sooner so that he wouldn't run into anymore trouble like that, he gets a bit lost but after a few moments he finally finds the auction house. He grumbles a bit before making his way into the auction house, he enters the auction house and sees that Law was already there. He simply gives Law a nod in recognition before turning back towards the stage but a voice speaks up,

"Well, well, well if it isn't "Demon Wind" Zoro."

Zoro turns to see Eustass Kid,

"What do you want Kid?"

Kid grins at him,

"Nothing, there's just new of your crew running rampant around the Grand Line."

Zoro narrows his eyes,

"What of it? Your crew wouldn't be much different from ours."

Kid gains a crazed look in is eye,

"Though out of your whole crew the stories about you are the ones that are the most interesting, injuring the world's strongest swordsman, destroying most of an island, fighting a gigantic unknown beast at Enies Lobby and now sending "Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma flying all the way to Marineford! You are an insane man but not one to be underestimated."

Zoro sighs before glaring at Kid putting one hand on his blades,

"Leave me alone or you'll have to add the killer of Captain Kid on that list."

This causes Kid's grin to drop turning into an enraged scowl,

"Just because we have the same bounty does not mean we are equal in strength!"

Zoro sighs and walks away,

"No it doesn't because I know I am stronger."

He leaves behind a fuming Kid and finds a seat waiting for the rest of his crew to arrive and to keep an eye out for the Tenryuubito, after a few moments his crew arrives but he decided against announcing that he was here instead deciding to sit there quietly and watch the auction. After a few minutes they finally bring out Camie, Zoro narrows his eyes his anger starting to boil from within him.

"500 Million!"

He looks up to see Charlos that disgusting being somehow considered a man, everyone starts to mutter about the price that he would pay to buy a mermaid. He growls quietly but sits still knowing what was going to happen, Charlos continues to celebrate his newly acquired slave. That is until Luffy comes crashing throw the roof of the auction house, immediately seeing Camie he races towards her,

"Camie!"

Zoro watches silently as the people within the auction house express their disgust at the appearance of Hatchan, this continues for a few more moments before a shot is heard Zoro seethes at the sight of Charlos celebrating over Hatchan's downed body.

"Hahaha, I got one! I got it, that means I get to keep it!"

Luffy turns around to see Hatchan on the ground bleeding and his eyes darken and he stalks towards Charlos with Hatchan trying to stop him, Zoro sighs obviously still enrage but knew that this was a very dangerous situation. He quickly hops over to Luffy completely stopping him in his tracks,

"Don't do it Luffy."

Luffy snaps his head towards Zoro his face completely covered by an expression of pure anger,

"He hurt Hatchan!"

Zoro sighs,

"I know but beating him down won't do anything for us, it'll only make our situation even more difficult."

But Luffy wasn't listening and pushes past Zoro, he continues to try to stop Luffy but Luffy isn't deterred in anyway. He continues forward until Zoro finally loses his patience and violently grabs Luffy before whispering something into his ear, this finally causes Luffy to pause. His face adopts a blank expression staring at Zoro, before it become saddened and ultimately returning back to it's enraged expression. He storms past this time with no one stopping him, the auction house could only watch in shock as Luffy stomped toward Charlos and proceeded to punch him sending him flying into the wall. The auction hall descends into anarchy everyone was scrambling to escape the auction house while Kid and Law stare at Luffy in disbelief, Zoro stands there silently blank-faced knowing what was going to come. He was able to think much longer as people around him began an attack on them, with the knowledge of what was going to come he wasn't in any mood to toy with opponents he immediately brings Sandai Kitetsu out and aims towards the mass of Marines racing towards him.

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

The fireball slams into them killing most and leaving others deeply burned and screaming on the ground he walks forward and see Shalria aiming a gun at Camie hoping to kill her before they could do anything, Zoro stands there silently knowing what was to come as Rayleigh emerges and Shalria falls unconscious. He steps out and watches the scene before him with a grin on his face,

"Quite some trouble you caused here."

He looks around studying the auction house before deducing what had happened,

"So you guys saved him, did you? Now then..."

He was about to do something but Zoro interrupted him,

"Let me do this Rayleigh."

Rayleigh looks at Zoro oddly before a grin slowly appears on his face,

"Be my guest."

Zoro pauses for a moment closing his eyes to calm himself before concentrating,

"Hmm!"

In an instant a mysterious energy washes over the entire auction house causing most of the knights and Marines to fall unconscious, Zoro breathes heavily from his use of Conquerors Haki he gives a slightly strained smile to Rayleigh. Rayleigh looks at Zoro slightly surprised before breaking into laughter,

"You're good kid, but we seem to be short of time."

He turns towards Luffy and smiles,

"I've been waiting to meet you Monkey D. Luffy."

Rayleigh walks forward to check on Hatchan's condition while Zoro falls backwards obviously exhausted from using a form of Haki that even in his past life he didn't master, while most of the Strawhats watch Rayleigh cautiously Robin walks over to check on Zoro, she stands over him wanting to help him up but something inside of her was stopping her from doing so. Zoro stares panting a bit due to his exhaustion before sitting up and looking at the rest of them, Rayleigh had Hatchan slung over his shoulder while Kid, Law, and Luffy were heading to the exit to deal with the Marines. Standing up Zoro walks towards them leaving Robin standing alone there with a conflicted expression on her face,

"Let's head out guys, staying here won't help us."

They head towards the exit to see that they already created a path to escape, though there were a few Marines left that were intent on capturing or killing them. Annoyed at his exhaustion already Zoro steps forward to take out the rest of them walking past Kid who glared at him,

"Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

The air projectile slams into the remaining Marines and tears apart the ground behind them, sheathing his blades he turns towards the rest of them,

"Stop standing around, we can't be here when the Admiral arrives."

They quickly make their way to Shakky's bar, they all sit around trying to calm down from the events that had just transpired. Zoro sat in the corner of the room trying to rest a bit after exhausting himself by using Conqueror Haki, he tunes out the conversation that the rest of the crew was having with Rayleigh. After a few moments he hears Luffy yelling Usopp's name, Zoro opens his eyes and starts to pay attention again. Rayleigh tells them that he would coat their ship but gives them all a Vivre card to all of them, but when he gave one to Zoro he whispers something to him,

"I would like to talk to you about a little something once we're done."

Zoro nods at him and Rayleigh continues,

"It will take three days to coat your ship."

Luffy stares at him surprised,

"Three days!"

Nami groans,

"That means we have to survive three days!"

Rayleigh chuckles at them,

"Yea so do try to hide yourselves a bit."

With that the Strawhats all get up to leave the only one that didn't move was Zoro. Hatchan, Camie and Shakky all go out to say their goodbyes leaving just Zoro and Rayleigh inside the bar,

"That was quite surprising, I did not expect a rookie to be able to use Conqueror Haki in Paradise."

Zoro chuckles at him,

"I'm not exactly a rookie, but my mastery over Conqueror Haki is still terrible I still have a long way to go."

Rayleigh chuckles and stands up heading towards the door,

"I know that you are hiding something but I will not pry, but I must tell you that keeping it from the rest of the crew may be detrimental to relationship between you and your crew mates."

With that Rayleigh leaves the bar leaving Zoro to sit alone in there for a few moments, this is all interrupted when Luffy barges back in,

"Zoro! Come on we're going to go tot he park again!"

Zoro chuckles at Luffy,

"Sure sure."

He gets up and exits the bar to see the rest of the Strawhats all standing there waiting for him, they start to head out until a person appears before them. Tot he Strawhats they saw him as Bartholomew Kuma but Zoro knew that this was just a Pacifista. The Strawhats all get ready to fight him Zoro charges forward ahead of the rest of the Strawhats hoping to cut it down quickly so that the rest of the Strawhats wouldn't waste their energy with it,

"Rengoku Oni Giri!"

The strike lands but it wasn't enough as the Pacifista was still moving, but Luffy and Sanji both followed through with an attack not allowing the Pacifista to attack him.

"Diable Jambe!"

"Gomu Gomu no Rocket!"

The attack slam into the Pacifista sending it flying towards Zoro, seeing it come towards him Zoro readies one last attack to destroy it,

"Ittoryu lai: Shi Shishi Sonson!"

The attack tears through the Pacifista, he watches it as it falls. He walks over and cuts the head off just for good measure so that it wouldn't be able to get up afterwards, right after that he exclaims in pain and grabs his chest collapsing. The Strawhats all race towards him to check on him Zoro was groaning at his own weakness, he forces himself to stand up knowing that another enemy would appear soon. Right on queue Sentoumaru and another Pacifista appear, Zoro growls at this and yells at his crew,

"We can't take them on, everyone split up!"

The Strawhats run off in different directions hoping to escape them, Zoro was stuck with Usopp and Brook again as they race towards a hiding spot. But as he expected not too long after yet another enemy appears, Admiral Kizaru, he shoots a beam that slams pierces through Zoro's shoulder. Zoro stumbles a bit but works through the pain, he unsheathes all of his swords and faces Kizaru intent on stopping him,

"Usopp, Brook run!"

They wanted to argue but Zoro wasn't able to comprehend what they were saying, he was on his last leg already maybe Rayleigh would save him this time maybe he wouldn't.

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

He merges with Decimation and falls to one knee, he was hitting his limit now he wouldn't be able to use his Ashura form in his condition.

"Ohh, you changed how you look, fascinating."

Zoro couldn't tell if he was sarcastic or not but that didn't matter, Zoro charges forward with his blades coated in Haki,

"Ashura Hakai!"

Kizaru blocks the strike and counter-attacks, in his current state Zoro was overpowered easily. The strike slams into his chest right by the spot where Kuma had struck, this causes excruciating pain for Zoro and his willpower was the only thing that was stopping him from collapsing.

"Surprising, I would have thought you would have keeled over and died by now."

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

The fireball races towards Kizaru but he simply disperses it only to have Zoro appear right behind it,

"Hono no Tatsumaki!"

Kizaru brings his arms up to block the strike but whatever this flame is, it wasn't normal as it was tearing into his body. Jumping back Kizaru looks down at his ruined suit before looking back at Zoro,

"Ahh, I liked this suit you're going to have to pay for that."

With that Kizaru disappears in a flash appearing behind Zoro and brings his leg down slamming Zoro onto the ground, Zoro coughs out large amounts of blood as he laid there on the ground. Kizaru raises his leg once again this time intent on killing him,

"Goodbye Demon Wind Zoro."

But his attack is stopped by Rayleigh who had instantly appeared and blocked his leg,

"Usopp, Brook grab Zoro and run!"

Usopp and Brook hear Luffy and grab Zoro trying to escape the current predicament they were in, it took a few moments but Zoro would finally regain consciousness. He stays silent as the Sentoumaru sends the Pacifista after them, but finally does something when the Pacifista was closing in on them. He shifts his weight so that Usopp would drop him, once he was dropped he struggles to stand up and he faces the Pacifista. The Pacifista stared Zoro down before shooting a beam at him that pierced straight through his chest causing yet another overwhelming sense of pain to Zoro.

"AHHHH!"

The rest of the Strawhats watch as Zoro is pierced through the chest in horror, it takes a moment but Zoro finally comes back to his senses. He calls upon Decimation probably for the last time he would ever do so and charges towards the Pacifista,

"Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!"

This attack was much larger than the usual Hono no Tatsumaki and the flames were much darker, they slammed straight into the Pacifista and all the Strawhats could only stare in shock as Zoro's attack had tore through the Pacifista entire torso. But their victory was short-lived as the real Kuma appeared,

"So you're still alive Roronoa, our battle may have ended with your win but I had not expected you to survive."

Zoro couldn't answer as his body racked with pain, he could only stare at Kuma as he slowly approached him.

"It you were to take a trip where would you go?"

Zoro finally gains the strength to respond with a grin on his face,

"Hell."

With that Kuma sends Zoro flying, but to the Strawhats it seemed like Kuma made Zoro disappear. They all pause and look at the spot where Zoro once was only to see nothing there,

"ZORO!"

But that wouldn't do anything as Zoro was already gone, Luffy wanted to fight but he knew that they would not be able to defeat Kuma especially in their current state.

"EVERYONE JUST THINK ABOUT ESCAPING, DON'T FIGHT THEM!"

Most of the Strawhats start to run away but Kuma would not allow them to escape like this, Kuma appears behind Usopp and Brook who were trying to pick themselves off the ground. In an instant Brook disappeared leaving Usopp to stare wide-eyed at Kuma, he takes out his weapon hoping to at least one last hit before he would disappear,

"Fire-bird star!"

The attack hits Kuma but he simply walks through the flames, he stands over the shaking Usopp and sends him away too. The other six Strawhats all watch in horror as three of their crew mates disappear, Kuma stands there for a second before disappearing again this time heading towards Sanji, Chopper and Robin. They all flinch when he suddenly appears before them, Sanji growls and charges at Kuma despite the rest of them telling him not to,

"Diable Jambe!"

Kuma uses the pads on his hand to deflect the attack and push Sanji onto the ground causing him to cough out blood, Sanji glares at him and tries to get up but Kuma already sent him flying. Luffy seeing yet another one of his nakama disappear charges at Kuma,

"Gear Second!"

Kuma directs the Luffy away from him sending him flying into one of the giant trees, Chopper seeing this yells at Robin,

"Robin get out of here now!"

With that he takes another two rumble balls turning him into his monster form, Chopper in his monster form charges at Kuma. Kuma stands there and waits for Chopper to be within range before disappearing and reappearing behind him, he rears his hand back and sends Chopper flying too. Luffy finally recovering looks up to see Chopper disappear, as Luffy's psyche slowly dissolved due to him watching as his friends all disappeared one by one he charges at Kuma hopping to stop him.

"Stop it! Leave us alone!"

Kuma once again deflects Luffy's attack and proceeds to send Robin flying, with that only three Strawhats remain the distraught captain along with the horror stricken navigator and ship-wright. Kuma appears behind Franky and Nami, never one to go out without a fight Franky attacks,

"Strong Right!"

"Franky no!"

The attack slams into Kuma's face but did nothing to stop or even deter him as Kuma continued forward, with this Franky was sent flying leaving only Nami who was frozen in fear. Once Kuma started to move in Nami could only stumble backwards,

"Luffy!"

Luffy once again charges forward this time not to attack Kuma but to get Nami out of Kuma's grasp, but he was too late with that Luffy was the only Strawhat left on Sabaody. Seeing all his friends disappear Luffy collapses onto the ground in tears,

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME I COULDN'T EVEN SAVE A SINGLE NAKAMA!"

Kuma slowly walks over to Luffy who was sobbing uncontrollably on the ground,

"We will not be seeing one another again, farewell."

With that Luffy too disappears, Kizaru and Sentoumaru both give Kuma disapproving stares while Rayleigh had an uncertain frown on his face. Kizaru looks back at Rayleigh,

"Now that the Strawhats are gone, we need to report back to Sengoku about our failure. But what are we to do with you?"

Rayleigh grins at him,

"I'll just be on my merry way then."

With that Rayleigh turns around and races off, Kizaru sighs at this and turns towards Kuma,

"You've got a lot of explaining to do."

Kizaru brings out the Denden-Mushi and contacts Sengoku,

"Did you complete your mission?"

Kizaru sighs,

"About that we didn't."

Sengoku proceeds to start yelling at Kizaru but he tunes most of it out, he stares off into the sea,

"Those Strawhats are trouble, now that we have no idea where they are they are going to become even more trouble."

With that the utter defeat of the Strawhat Pirates at Sabaody Archipelago is concluded.

**That's a wrap this chapter could have been slightly different but I'm fine with the way it turned out, the next few chapters will be completely centered on Zoro so I'm gonna have fun writing that. Right before the time skip in the manga it was a few arcs for Luffy, well since I'm writing about Zoro I'll probably cover all two years for him him alone. I have a few ideas of what to do but nothing is cemented yet so still have to figure out how to deal with this, though most of that story arc isn't gonna be canon so it might be so-so at best. I'm gonna try drag this time skip thing out a bit while I try to come up with ways to end off the story, that's unless you guys want me to continue with this a bit more than I had planned to do. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	28. Hawkeyes and Hellhounds

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man****, there's also a poll on my profile so vote for that!**

He groans and opens his eyes to look around, he notices that he was once again on Kuraigana Island. He lays there for a few moments before forcing himself to stand up, he sees Mihawk's castle and starts to make his way there, he arrived at the castle to see it empty sighing he finds a nice spot and sits down closing his eyes hoping to get some sleep. He's awakened a few moments later by a girl screaming at him, he opens his eye to see that it was Perona,

"What do you want?"

She scoffs at him,

"This is my place what are you doing here?!"

He groans and stands up,

"Kuma sent me here with that ability of his."

Perona proceeds to yell at him more but he tunes her out and walks around the castle a bit, finally finding a bed he gets into it still soaked with blood and sleeps. He is awakened a few moments later when he feels something touching him, he opens his eyes to see Perona putting bandages on him. He quirks an eyebrow and looks at her, she grows flustered and turns away,

"You saved me from Kuma on Thriller Bark so I'm just repaying the favor! It's not like I like you or anything!"

Zoro chuckles at this,

"Thanks. Though how did you get away from Kuma?"

She grumbles a bit,

"After I saw what happened to you I decided against fighting him and found a ship inside Thriller Bark took that and sailed away, I ended up on this island and I liked it so I stayed."

He chuckles at this,

"You do know that this is Dracule Mihawks island right?"

She freezes before staring at him in disbelief,

"What?! Ahhh I have to get off this island!"

He chuckles at this and she turns and glares at him,

"What are you laughing at?!"

He waves her off and grins,

"Mihawk won't just kill you just because you're on his island."

She breathes a sigh of relief,

"You better not be lying to me."

Once she applied bandages to his body he stands up and heads towards the entrance of the castle,

"Where are you going?"

He opens that door and steps out,

"Training."

She chases after him,

"Training?! You're practically bleeding to death right now and you want to train?!"

He chuckles,

"Yea."

She groans at him and he continues on his way looking for the humandrills, Perona complains while floating behind him the entire way. He finally comes upon the humandrills they were all clumped together in a small encampment, it was uncanny how similar to humans they were. Zoro walks towards them,

"Perona you should stay back, this is gonna get a bit hectic."

Perona complies staying a few meters back from where he was, Zoro dashes forward and stabs one humandrill through the chest causing it to fall over screaming in pain. Zoro removes his blade with a dangerous glint in his eye,

"Who's next?"

~Three Days Later~

Mihawk gets off his boat and hops onto the island, he sighs a bit as he walks towards his castle. Whitebeard along with Portgas D. Ace are dead now and he had participated in the battle that had lead to this, it was his duty as a Shichibukai but he did not enjoy it. The older generation was slowly falling apart especially now with Whitebeards death, though the thing that was bothering him the most was the arrival of the Blackbeard Pirates and the prisoners of Impel Down. Blackbeard was sure to stir up a storm in the years to come and he was not looking forward to the headache that he would bring, he is shaken from his thoughts when he looks forward to see the cut up bodies of multiple humandrills. He quirks his eyebrow and starts to pay more attention to his surroundings, hoping to see if he could find the assailant using his Observation Haki. He doesn't find anyone, he proceeds to shrug his shoulders and continues towards his castle, upon entering his castle he notices a blood trail by starting from the door. Narrowing his eyes he follows the blood trail for a few moments before ultimately being lead to one of the rooms in the castle, he opens the door to see Zoro and a pink-haired girl arguing while she was applying bandages to his body,

"What are you guys doing on my island?"

Perona tenses up and jumps back in fear, while Zoro grins at him,

"Hey there Mihawk."

Mihawk crosses his arms obviously not amused,

"You have still yet to answer my question."

Zoro chuckles,

"Kuma sent me here with that pesky ability of his."

Mihawk quirks an eyebrow,

"Bartholomew Kuma?"

He would continue if Perona didn't choose to speak up in that moment,

"Don't ignore me!"

They both ignore her,

"Yea, you should have known about the whole Tenryuubito fiasco at the Sabaody Archipelago."

Mihawk sighs,

"Are you going to stay here for long?"

Zoro waves him off,

"Maybe, maybe not. Who knows."

Mihawk sighs and rubs his forehead walking away,

"Just don't destroy anything."

Zoro chuckles at him,

"No promises."

He continues to chuckle until he yelps in pain, turning towards Perona who had tightened his bandages to an uncomfortable degree.

"What was that for?!"

She huffs,

"That was for ignoring me!"

He sighs at her and stands up, going to find Mihawk, he finally finds him after a few moments of searching.

"Do you have a boat that I can borrow when the time for me to leave comes?"

Mihawk thinks for a moment,

"I do believe that there is a small rowboat somewhere on the island. Though I must ask how long do you plan to stay swordsman?"

Zoro thinks for a moment,

"Probably 2-3 months."

Mihawk nods,

"What are you going to be doing during those months?"

Zoro grins at him,

"Train my ass off."

Mihawk nods at him and returns to his wine but Zoro continues,

"Though I would request a duel with you, I need to measure my current strength and know how far I still have to go."

Mihawk sighs,

"Then lets get this over with."

They both exit the castle and stand across from each other with their blades out, Perona was floating to the side with a pout on her face obviously from being ignored.

"Come at with my your full strength or you'll die."

Zoro grins at him,

"Would never dream of it."

They stand silently across from each other for a few moments before Zoro charges forward,

"Jinsoku!"

Zoro's speed increased tenfold but it wasn't enough to catch Mihawk by surprise, he blocks Zoro's attack but doesn't counter-attack yet. Zoro relentlessly attacks Mihawk hoping to scratch him at least but he was making no progress, growing slightly frustrated he jumps back,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

Mihawk watches as Zoro's appearance and attire change, he quirks an eyebrow at this,

"How is changing your look suppose to help you?"

Zoro grins at him,

"Just wait and see."

He charges once again this time even faster, they lock blades but to Mihawk's surprise Zoro was slowly overpowering him. He puts a bit more effort into it only to find Zoro had disengaged and disappeared, looking around he turns to the right to see Zoro closing in on him.

"Ashura Hakai!"

Mihawk blocks the strike with Yoru but was just a bit slow, this leads to a small gash on his neck and forearm. Mihawk smiles at this and decides that he should stop playing around, he takes the offense this time with Yoru raised high above his head he brings it down on Zoro. Zoro blocks the strike with all of his blades but Mihawk had put more strength into the strike than he had expected causing one of his arms to give in a bit leading to a rather deep cut on his shoulder, Zoro jumps back and grips his shoulder before grinning madly at Mihawk,

"We should end this soon, my body still hasn't completely recovered so I'm slowly reaching my limit."

Mihawk nods at him and readies for a final strike, Zoro closes his eyes and concentrates,

"Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

Mihawk watches in fascination as Zoro grew two more heads and four more arms, he grins wildly at Zoro,

"That is a fascinating ability you have there, but it still will not be enough to defeat me."

Zoro stares at Mihawk with a crazed look in his eye,

"We'll have to see about that, Ashura Hakai: Ajimasuburesu!"

"Yoru Dasshu!"

The two stand silently after the attack with Perona floating anxiously to the side waiting to see who would fall, Zoro sheathes his blades and collapses backwards with yet another large slash on his chest this time not as deep. Mihawk looks at Zoro clearly impressed as he touches the nine cuts around his body,

"Impressive, but you still have a ways to go, get some rest and train to become more powerful my friend."

Mihawk walks away leaving a panting Zoro on the ground and a fuming Perona to the side, she floats over to him with bandages at the ready,

"Stupid swordsman, you're still injured why would you fight him?!"

Zoro chuckles at her but yelps in pain when she once again tightens his bandages to an uncomfortable degree,

"I have to know how much further I must go to finally achieve my goal."

She huffs but silently applies the bandages onto his body, once done she dusts herself off and heads towards the castle. She doesn't see Zoro following her and turns around,

"Are you coming or not?"

Zoro chuckles embarrassingly,

"Yea, well I'm in a bit of a situation here. My body kind of gave up so I can't move a muscle here."

Perona groans in annoyance before floating over to him she mutters under her breath,

"Insufferable swordsman."

But Zoro hears her,

"If I'm so insufferable then why are you helping me?"

She scoffs and turns away grabbing one of his arms and putting it over her shoulder as she floated over to the castle, Zoro looks up at the sky and sighs,

"I still have a long way to go."

~A Month Later~

Zoro stumbles back into the castle covered yet again in injuries, Perona notices this and floats over,

"What the hell happened to you this time?"

He grunts and collapses onto the couch already asleep, Perona sighs at this and floats away looking for the bandages. This has been how Zoro had spent the last month, training all day then coming back and collapsing onto the couch. Perona was getting annoyed but the idiot wouldn't change he would just continue to do this until he would leave, she sighs grabbing the bandages and floats back to the couch. To her surprise Zoro was awake and sipping some tea,

"Oy why are you awake idiot?!"

Zoro looks up at her confused for a moment before smiling,

"I'm not the boss, he's still asleep. I'm just using his body since I've been bored recently."

Perona pauses and looks at him oddly before throwing the bandages at him,

"Stop messing around idiot!"

Zoro pouts at her,

"But I'm not! I'm Decimation not the boss man."

She narrows her eyes at him,

"Well then Decimation how are you possessing his body?"

Decimation smiles at her,

"The boss man always merges with me, this time he forgot to separate after he finished training. Passed out before he could do that so that leaves me in his body."

She sighs,

"I don't know why I bother dealing with this."

Decimation grins at her and puts the cup down, he stands up and starts running around the castle. Perona chases after him very annoyed,

"Stop! I haven't even replaced the old bandages!"

Decimation continues to laugh and run away from her, he finally comes across Mihawks room and barges in. Mihawk turns towards him and sees a bloody and grinning Zoro, he quirks an eyebrow at this,

"What are you doing here?"

Decimation runs up to Mihawk then proceeds to run circles around him,

"I have control over the boss mans body for a few hours!"

Mihawk looks at him quizzically and sighs,

"Don't destroy anything."

Decimation grinds to a halt before nodding rapidly at him and running off once again, next Perona runs into the room clearly exhausted,

"Where did he go?"

Mihawk shrugs his shoulders returning to his wine, Perona huffs in annoyance at this and continues on her way. While running she looks out the window to see Zoro outside, grumbling she chases him outside hoping to stop him from getting any further. She chases him all the way to a cliff on the other side of the island, panting in exhaustion she stops and glares at Decimation who was calmly sitting at the edge of the cliff staring out. She was about to say something but Decimation beats her to the punch,

"The boss man is sad."

She pauses after hearing this, looking at him oddly she asks,

"Why is he sad?"

Decimation turns around and smiles at her sadly,

"The moment he hopes to change is getting closer and closer, but he hasn't done much. He hates himself for what happened then and now that he's back here he hasn't changed it enough, it's going to end up the same way and that scares him."

She narrows her eyes at him,

"What do you mean?"

But Decimation was already gone, Zoro has returned and he groans looking at her,

"Why am I here? I thought I got back to the castle."

Perona takes a moment to decide what to do, deciding to not tell Zoro what she just learned she puts on a face of annoyance.

"You didn't! I had to come all the way out here to find you, idiot!"

He grumbles at her straining himself to stand up,

"Yea yea, lets just head back."

He walks past her and she stares at him curious about what Decimation said, Zoro pauses and looks back at her.

"Are you coming or what!"

She shakes her head filing the information for another time,

"I'm coming alright!"

They both quietly head back to the castle, once they reach it Zoro once again collapses onto the couch this time not instantly falling asleep. She takes out the bandages but looks at his right arm,

"Is that a burn? How did that happen?"

He pops one eye open and looks at her,

"Less questions you ask the better."

She huffs at him but stays silent as she applies the bandages onto his body, once done she spins around and leaves Zoro alone. Zoro sighs as he lays there alone with his thoughts,

_"You are still nowhere near powerful enough to take on Akainu much less the Marines as a whole, if you don't get your act together you're going to have to relive that experience."_

Zoro growls at him,

"You think I don't know that! I'm trying and trying but I don't see anyway I can just instantly increased my strength to the point where I could take on an entire army!"

Volron scoffs at him,

_"Pathetic."_

He snarls at Volron,

"Shut the hell up, I beat you last time! You don't have the right to speak right now!"

Volron grumbles at this but stays silent,

_"There is always a way to become stronger, you must simply go forth and search for it."_

Zoro sighs,

"Well I'm not going to leave until it's another two months here so I can't become stronger yet."

They are all silent, Zoro sits up expecting a response from them,

"Hey, nothing?"

Volron shushes him,

_"Quiet mortal, we sense something."_

Hearing this Zoro gets up with his hand on the hilts of his blade, he slowly walks towards the door keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. He opens the door and peeks out seeing nothing, he sighs and moves to close the door but a voice rings through his head.

_"Behind you!"_

Diving to the side Zoro unsheathes his blade and looks for his opponent but he sees nothing, narrowing his eyes but still on edge he speaks,

"What was behind me?"

He doesn't get a response but he senses something charging at him, still unsure of what he was up against he rolls out of the way instead of trying to block it. This time he sees something a black-furred dog with flames on it's body, it's body seemed to be connected to it's shadow on the ground. The dog growls at him before diving into the ground surprising him,

"What the hell was that?"

_"That was a hellhound."_

He pauses for a moment activating his Observation Haki to search for the beast,

_"Don't bother, once it's within the ground with the level of your Observation Haki you would never find it."_

Zoro grumbles at this but stays on edge relying on his senses to tell him when the beast would strike, standing stock still Zoro waits until the beast jumps out of a shadow on the wall it's jaw ready to tear into Zoro. Thankfully Zoro sensed this he strikes the beast with his blades but to his surprise even though he had pierced straight through the beast it was still moving, jumping back he studies the beast before it disappears once again.

_"Use the Soul-Devouring Flames, most of these beast are already dead so pain means nothing to them. Target the beasts core, it's the link that keeps them, well I shouldn't say alive but you know what I mean."_

Zoro nods at this and coats his blade in flames waiting for the beast to attack him once again, this time the beast appears from his own shadow. Zoro brings his blade up to block the creatures strike, he could feel just how powerful it was as it slowly pushed Zoro back. Having enough of this Zoro disengages and counter-attacks,

"Ashura Hakai!"

This time since it was coated in the Soul-Devouring Flames the beast howls in pain before collapsing his wind slightly on fire, he studies the beasts fallen body as Perona races down towards him and Mihawk slowly walks forward.

"What is that?!"

Zoro sheathes his blades before answering,

"This is a hellhound."

Mihawk narrows his eyes,

"What is such a creature doing here?"

Zoro quirks an eyebrow at Mihawk's nonchalant attitude but shrugs his shoulders,

"No idea."

He walks over to the couch and lays down waiting for an answer from Ashura,

_"It seems yet another demon is hunting you."_

Zoro groans at this,

"Which one is it this time?"

Ashura thinks for a moment,

_"Maybe Satan."_

Zoro pauses for a moment,

"You're joking."

_"I'm not Satan is usually the only demon to send in hellhounds to do his bidding."_

Zoro groans at this,

"What does he want with me?"

_"Who knows, but you'll have to deal with him eventually. I'm going to say dealing with Satan is nothing like your fight with Leviathan, Satan is a not a beast that attacks blindly but a sentient being that can be reasoned with. Though always think before you agree to anything and don't piss him off as hard as that is, he's a crafty demon that embodies the Sin of Wrath."_

Zoro grumbles in annoyance and closes his eyes hoping to get some sleep.

~Yet Another Month Later~

Zoro groans as he laid on the floor staring up at the sky, he had trained himself to the point of exhaustion once again and it was showing as he could barely move his body. He was stuck here for now until he would be able to move his body properly again, sighing he closes his eyes to get some rest in the mean time. He would be able to do this until he hears movement to his right, straining himself to sit up he looks to the side looking for the source of the sound. He narrows his eyes when he sees the figure of a person slowly approach his location,

"Who is it?"

The figure freezes before popping out of the treeline,

"It's me you idiot!"

Zoro sighs when he sees that it was Perona,

"What are you doing here?"

She huffs at him,

"I'm coming to check on you!"

He sighs and lays back down on the ground,

"I'm fine, you don't need to be here."

She growls at him,

"Fine then!"

She storms off leaving him alone on the ground, he closes his eyes and returns to his sleep for a bit longer. That is until he hears a bush rustling on his right, not even opening his eyes he speaks,

"I said I'm fine Perona, just leave me alone."

He doesn't receive a response so he opens his eyes and looks in the direction of the sound,

"Perona?"

Instead of her appearing from the bushes something else emerges, at this he jumps up hands on his blades ready to attack what would emerge. To his surprise what emerge was another hellhound, the difference this time was that the hellhound which appeared this time was much larger than the last one he faced. It was about as tall has he was and it's fur was pitch black with hints of red, it growled menacingly at Zoro who unsheathed all three of his blades ready to defend against any strike the beast would take. To his surprise the beast didn't strike him, it spoke to him,

**"Demon Wind Zoro."**

Zoro pauses for a moment to register the fact and another moment to try figure out if he was dreaming or delusional,

**"I am not an illusion mortal!"**

Zoro narrows his eyes at it,

"Who are you and what do you want with me?"

The beast growled at him,

**"I am a messenger of my lord Satan, the fourth son of the Alran clan!"**

Zoro takes a step back still staring intently at the beast,

"What do you want with me then?"

The beast growls at him and stalks closer,

**"My master wishes to have me monitor your abilities, he has heard of your battle with Leviathan and is curious of what could have gone against it and survived."**

Zoro narrows his eyes at it,

"You've seen me now get out of here."

The beast slowly disappears back into the shadows,

**"This is not over human, my master will deal with you in due time."**

Zoro sighs as he lets his guard down to relax a bit, slightly uncertain about the events that had just transpired.

_"Forget that for now, the day is still young get back to training!"_

Zoro sighs at him and gets back to his training even though his body was aching for him to stop, he sheathes his three blades and brings out Decimation for the next part of his training.

_"You better get stronger soon or Satan wold steamroll you completely."_

Zoro ignores Volron as he concentrated on coating the entire blade in Haki and the Soul-Devouring Flames, once coated he surges forward practicing his swing with the now coated blade hoping to work on controlling the output of the flames.

_"You still have a long way to go."_

Zoro growls at him,

"I know."

He brings the blade up aiming out towards the ocean,

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

The fireball barreled outward onto the ocean, Zoro watches as the fireball keeps on going until it finally dissipates about fifty meters from where he was. He narrows his eyes at it before concentrating to try again,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

This time the fireball come out as more of a comet, barreling forward much faster and burning much hotter. Zoro smiles as it streaks across the ocean quickly disappearing from his sight, he looks at Decimation and grins,

"Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Volron scoffs at him,

_"Getting excited over something as small as this? You truly are pathetic."_

Zoro chuckles at him,

"Is calling me pathetic the only insult you have?"

Volron growls but doesn't answer, Zoro takes this and turns back around to enter the forest.

"How bout teaching me that Genshi Shokku thing?"

Ashura answers this time,

_"To be able to do that you must discard your humanity and become a demon, as a human you do not posses the ability to do such a thing."_

Zoro sighs at this,

"Don't want to discard my humanity yet."

Ashura chuckles,

_"Then you won't be able to do that yet, though you can slowly progress and as you embrace more of the demon blood. Ultimately it would reach the same result with less chance of death but it would simply take longer."_

Zoro sighs,

"Then no matter what I do, the moment I accepted the demon blood I couldn't do anything against becoming a demon."

Decimation chuckles at him,

"Yep!"

Sighing Zoro makes his way back to the castle grinning to himself.

~The Day of His Departure~

Zoro opens his eyes to see Perona standing over him with a frown on her face,

"You're leaving today or something right? Why are you still sleeping on the floor idiot?!"

He groans at her,

"I'm not leaving right now, so let me sleep the remainder of the time I have left."

She huffs at him but leaves him alone as he returns to his sleep, this was the day that he was suppose to set off. Where he was suppose to go he had no idea but staying on the island was not an option, he sighed as he remembered the encounter with the gigantic hellhound that happened about a month ago. Satan was keeping an eye on him that wasn't boding well with him, but he didn't have to think for much longer as once again another hellhound appeared. It growled at him,

**"Demon Wind Zoro."**

He quirks an eyebrow at it,

"What do you want?"

It growls at him clearly annoyed,

**"My master wishes to speak to you."**

Zoro narrows his eyes at it,

"Then tell him to come and find me then."

**"My master does not go to those he wishes to speak to, they come to him."**

Zoro scoffs at him,

"Well then you can can tell him to piss off."

It growls angrily at him,

**"Do not test me human, my master is not a patient man. If you waste his time he will kill you right where you stand, that is if I don't kill you now!"**

It lunges at Zoro intent on striking him down, Zoro saw this coming and dodges the strike and jumps back taking Decimation out.

"Ashura Hakai!"

It dodges Zoro's strike and glares at him,

**"You belong to that cursed god Ashura?! I will deliver your head to my master!"**

It charges at him once again though this time Zoro doesn't dodge he takes his blade and shoots forward to meet it head on,

"Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!"

The attack hits the creature dead on tearing into it's side, it screams in pain and jumps back hoping to put some distance between them, but Zoro already rushed forward and had his blade against's it's eye with a menacing grin on his face.

"Go and tell your boss that if he wants to talk to me and won't find me himself than he can piss the fuck off!"

It growled at him but a glare from Zoro caused it to back off in fear and disappear into the shadows, sighing Zoro dissipates Decimation and heads towards the coast. Once he reaches there he sits in silence for a few minutes before standing up and getting onto the boat, he turns around not seeing anyone sighing he gets the boat ready to sail. But a voice calls out to him,

"Zoro!"

He pauses and turns around towards the voice to see Mihawk,

"Yea?"

Mihawk grins at him,

"The next time we meet be strong enough to defeat me!"

Zoro grins at him,

"You better not get weaker on me old man!"

Mihawk shakes his head in amusement before turning back towards the castle, Perona floats over to the coast,

"Hey, what about me?!"

He doesn't hear her leaving her pouting on the island with Mihawk before turning around and following him back to the castle, Zoro stares off onto the ocean with a grin on his face.

"Time to raise some hell!"

**That's a wrap this chapter was a bit harder to figure out for me, I had to balance a new idea without making it seem contrived but also not too boring. It was a bit repetitive to have a hellhound attack him every month but I believe that it should be alright, I apologize if the newer chapters seem a bit off. This has been taking up a lot of my time so I haven't been able to play video games or watch anime as much as I used to, so I've been watching anime while writing this so my attention is kind of split between the two making the content of the chapters might be a bit poor compared to usual. Along with that this chapter was released a bit later than usual because I've been kind of sick this week and I was practically bedridden the entire time which really suck. Once again if you're reading this and like it thanks for reading.**


	29. Hell's Gate

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man****, there's also a poll on my profile so vote for that!**

Zoro's ship aimlessly floats on the water as he stares off into the ocean, he had left Kuraigana Island excited at the prospect of an adventure but after being out here for so long and not finding anything it he was growing bored. He sighs and leans onto the side of the boat closing his eyes to get some sleep hoping to pass the time, he would able to do this for a few hours as the boat slowly drifts about. Before finally being awakened with a jolt as the boat he was on crashes into the coast of an island, grumbling he stands up scratching his eyes before jumping off the boat onto the island. The island looked large but he had still yet to see another person on the island, grumbling he pulls his boat in and heads inland searching for something to appease his boredom. After minutes of walking he come upon a small little town that was bustling with activity, he lazily strolls into the town taking in the surrounding area, the atmosphere of the town was somber.

"Hey, you there!"

Zoro turns towards the voice seeing a man pointing at him,

"Hmm?"

The man walks up to him with a grin on his face and puts an arm around his shoulder,

"You don't look like you come from around here."

Zoro narrows his eyes at the hand on his shoulder,

"So?"

The man's grin drops,

"You should leave while you still can."

This time Zoro narrows his eyes at the man, he opens his mouth to say something but the man had already disappeared. He looks around for the man but finds nothing, narrowing his eyes he continues on his way this time a bit more cautious on the island he had just arrived on. Finally he comes across something that seemed like a bar, entering he looks around at the people that were in the bar. Most of them ignored him and continued what they were doing while some paused what they were doing to study him, shrugging his shoulder he walks finding a seat at the bar stool. The one behind the bar walks up to him,

"What do you want?"

Zoro quirks an eyebrow at him but answers,

"Some sake and a steak."

The man walks away leaving Zoro to think about the town he had just entered,

"None of my business."

"What's none of your business?"

He snaps his head to the right to see a girl looking at him oddly with a drink in hand, regaining his composure he coughs before responding,

"Nothing."

She chuckles at him slapping his back,

"Now, now no need to be so secretive man!"

Zoro slowly backs away with a look of annoyance on his face,

"Foods here!"

He turns towards the voice seeing the barkeeper dropping a plate in front of him along with a jug of sake, sighing he digs into the food ignoring the girl next to him. She grumbles at him but leaves him alone for the time being as he eats the food, Zoro sighs in content and drinks the sake enjoying the meal he got. He grabs a few Berries from within his dark-green coat and puts it on the table he then turns around to exit the bar,

"Hey, wait up!"

The unnamed girl chased after him as he continued on his way through the town, she catches up to him and grabs him by the shoulder,

"Hey, don't ignore me!"

Zoro stops walking sighs then turns towards her,

"What do you want?"

She huffs at him,

"What's none of your business?"

He looks at her like she was some child,

"You chased me out here just to ask that?"

She grins at him,

"Yea, I'm a very curious person!"

Zoro sighs and rubs his face tiredly,

"Just leave me alone."

She stops and glares at him,

"This is my town I'm not going to just let some unknown swordsman wander around without knowing if he was dangerous or not."

He quirks an eyebrow at her,

"What makes you think I'll just tell you?"

In a flash she brings her own blade out and presses it against his throat,

"I could just kill you where you stand."

Seeing this he narrows his eyes dangerously at her,

"Put the blade away before you hurt yourself."

They stare at each other intensly for a few moments giving Zoro a chance to actually study her, she was shorter than him by a bit which made this kind of funny. She also had piercing blue eyes that was currently glaring at him along with short black spiky hair,

"I have half the mind to run you through right now."

He quirks an eyebrow at her,

"Put it away or I'll make you."

She pushes the blade closer causing him to bleed a bit, he finally drops his glare prompting for a blank expression instead as he quickly moved his head back. In that instant he slams his right hand into the side of the blade jostling it out of her grip, while it spun he grabbed the hilt of the blade and dashes forward leaving the blade pressed against the side of her neck.

"Told you to put it away."

He pulls it back and spins it around so that the blade was in a reverse grip facing the ground, he puts the blade out for her to grab. She glares at him and snatches the blade from his hands. With that Zoro lazily waves her off and continues on his way hoping that she would leave him alone, too bad she was still determined to follow him made his way out of the town. He was about to berate her for this when he hears an alarm go off in the town, he watches as the bustling town turned into panicked dash to find a place to hide. He looks around confused before turning towards the girl,

"Oy, girl!"

She glared at him but she seemed a bit on edge,

"What?!"

He rolls his eyes at her,

"Hell's going on?"

She grabs his arm and starts dragging him toward one of the buildings,

"Ask questions later! We need to find shelter now!"

She drags him into one of the buildings and pulls him onto the ground, he grumbles at her but decides to stay silent to see what was going on. They peek out a window to see the entire street completely abandoned, this only served to pique Zoro's interest as he knew of nothing that was happening. They stay there for minutes for only for nothing to happen and it was tearing at Zoro's patience, finally having enough Zoro stands up and glares at her,

"What the fuck is going on!"

She tugs him onto the ground again shushing him,

"No, tell me what the fuck is going on! What's with the alarm and why is everyone hiding!"

She clamps his mouth causing him to growl, she whispers one word into his ear,

"Monsters."

He narrows his eyes at this and silently watches the streets again waiting for a monster to appear, he wouldn't have to wait long as a giant humanoid creature with a horn and one eye lumbers in the town with a club in hand. Zoro studies the creature looking to see if it would pose a threat or not, after a few moments he turns to the girl and whispers,

"Would anything bad happen if I killed it?"

She looked at him like he was stupid,

"You can't kill something like alone."

He chuckles at her,

"Watch me."

He walks out of the building unsheathing Sandai Kitetsu while doing so,

"Yo, one-eyes! Come and get me!"

The creature turns towards before growling and slowly walking towards him, Zoro grins at this and charges forward to strike the creature down,

"Ashura Hakai!"

To his surprise the strike was much more shallow than he had anticipated, he had underestimated the skin of this creature so he put the same amount of power he would if he were to fight a normal human. Seeing his mistake he instantly jumps back as the creature roars in pain and tries to attack him, bringing the club down where he just was causing the ground to crack under it's massive strength. Zoro sighs at this clearly disappointed in his arrogance before shooting forward to finish the job,

"Hono no Tatsumaki!"

The strike tears through the creatures chest causing it to scream in pain for a few moments before finally collapsing backwards, Zoro sheathes his blade and looks towards the direction in which the creature came from with calculating eyes. He turns around to see the rest of the town slowly crawling out of their hiding spots to look at Zoro and the fallen body of the creature, the girl that had been bugging Zoro looks at this in shock before turning towards him,

"Who the hell are you?"

He grins at her and starts heading towards the forest,

"Don't worry about it."

He walks into the forest to try see what other bizarre creatures that he would find there, though oddly enough he hasn't heard a word from any of the three demons for the past couple days and that was slightly unnerving to him. Sighing he follows whatever odd sound he could hear within the forest in hopes to finding something to fight, to his annoyance though the girl was still following him around. Sighing he turns around to confront her,

"Why are you still following me?"

She freezes and looks down not meeting his gaze before stuttering out what she wanted to say,

"I-I want you to train me!"

He blinks once, then twice,

"No way in hell."

Hearing this she snaps her head up,

"Why?!"

He grumbles and waves her off,

"I don't train people, I don't have the time to baby-sit someone. I have things to do and I can't do them efficiently if I'm taking care of a kid."

She takes this as an insult,

"Hey! I'm not a kid!"

He rolls his eyes,

"Sure."

He turns around and continues on his way as she follows him very much annoyed,

"I'll have you know that I'm eighteen, I'm an adult!"

He groans in annoyance,

"Can you please just shut up and leave me alone."

Before she can answer he stumbles and trips backward falling into a ditch, grumbling he gets off and dusts himself off and looks around to see four giants standing over him. The girl yells in fear,

"It's the Laestrygonians!"

He pauses for a moment,

"The what?"

One of the four chuckles in glee,

"Look more food!"

Zoro narrows his eyes at it clearly not amused at the situation he was in,

"Back off giant or you'll get hurt."

They all look at him and laugh,

"He's threatening us!"

They spend moments laughing at Zoro who after a few moments had enough of this and unsheathed Sandai Kitetsu,

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

The fireball slams into one of them and as the other turn towards their fellow giant who was screaming Zoro charges forward,

"Ittoryu lai: Shi Shishi Sonson!"

The strike rips one of the giants head straight off causing the other two that weren't on fire to gasp in shock,

"YOU KILLED HIM!"

Zoro shakes the blood off his blade and turns towards them with a bored expression,

"Yea, so what?"

They growl at him,

"We're going to kill you!"

Zoro sighs and mutters,

"Not the first time I've heard that."

They charge at him bringing their fist back to strike him, Zoro sighs and brings his blade up to attack them before they reach him,

"Yakkodori!"

The projectile shoots towards the giant on the right and slams into it's shoulder sending it reeling back in pain, the second turns towards it's friend surprised at the attack. Taking this moment of surprise Zoro dashes forward and attack the remaining giant,

"Baki!"

The attack splits the giant clean in two, Zoro grumbles as he shakes the blood off his sword and wipes the bits of blood that got on him in annoyance.

"Barely two weeks and I have to take a shower already."

He's shaken from his thoughts as the girl yells,

"That was amazing!"

He turns towards her obviously not amused,

"Are you going to leave me alone now?"

She grins at him,

"Nope."

Zoro sighs,

"That's what I thought."

He continues on his way hoping to see what other creatures he could find on this island,

"So what are you doing on this island?"

He spares a glance at her,

"I just stumble upon it, fell asleep on my boat next thing I know my boat landed on the shore of this island. What is this island anyway? There are weird creatures here that I've never seen before."

Her grin drops a bit,

"This island is Hell's gate, this island is host to thousands of monsters that have never been seen before. How you got to this island completely unscathed is a miracle in itself."

He quirks an eyebrow at this,

"Why?"

She sighs,

"There's a beast within the water that destroy any ship that gets close enough to the island, nobody knows what it is just that it's gigantic and destroys the ships with a giant pincer."

Hearing this he pauses for a moment before shaking his head and continuing on the path,

"Why are there creatures here anyway?"

She pauses for a moment looking around in fear before whispering,

"We have no idea, the only thing that we do know is that these monsters come from the castle in the middle of the island and that the castle is controlled by a titan by the name Pallas."

Hearing this he quirks his eyebrows,

"Were these monsters always here?"

She shakes her head,

"No, they only came once Pallas settled down in the castle."

He grins,

"Then I guess I'll have to pay this Pallas guy a visit."

She stops him,

"Don't!"

He narrows his eyes at her waiting for a reason why,

"We tried to fight him once, there were thousands of us on this island that had joined in to fight Pallas and the monsters. Not a single one survived the battle with him."

He mutters,

"Then why not ask the Marines to help you guys?"

She sighs,

"The monster within the water stops anyone from leaving so we've never been able to get a message out to the Marines, we tried to use messengers birds too but they were taken out by the Harpies."

Zoro sighs,

"Jesus this place is a shit show."

She grumbles,

"Yea I know, that's why I wanted you to train me so I can be stronger and protect everyone."

He looks at her sadly and puts a hand on her head rubbing it while walking past her,

"Kid, you can't protect everyone alone, the sooner you learn that the better."

He continues on his path hoping that she would stop following him as he made his way to the way which he hoped was the castle,

"I don't have to do it alone, you can help me train everyone else to be as strong as you! Then we don't have to worry about defending ourselves!"

He sighs his patience waning,

"That's not how it works kid."

She yells at him,

"My names not kid it's Asaka! And how does it work then?"

He sighs sitting down to rest a bit,

"I can't train you guys to be powerful enough to take on monsters of that caliber in the time I have."

She huffs,

"Then at least train me!"

He sighs prompting to ignore her as he closed his eyes to sleep.

~A While Later~

Zoro awakens to the sound of screeching and yelling, grumbling he opens his eyes to see Asaka fighting what seemed to be a human with wings instead of arms. She wasn't exactly losing but the creatures speed clearly outmatched her proving to be a very difficult battle for her, sighing he unsheathes Shusui and waits for a moment to strike. When the creature swoops down to try attack her he shoots forward with his blade ready to cut the creatures head off, to his surprise the creature saw his attack coming and avoided it in time. It flew into the air and made sounds that seemed like it was mocking him, not taking kindly to this as he takes off his shirts and transforms the tattoo on his back into wings to chase the creature. This greatly surprised the creature as it thought Zoro was only a simple human and would not possess means of flight, this momentary surprise was all Zoro needed as he shoots forward and slicing straight through the creatures body. Seeing his job done he floats down onto the ground and turns his wings back into the tattoo shaking the blood off his blade, Asaka stares at him in shock,

"You have wings?"

He shrugs his shoulders,

"Never said I was human."

With that he yawns and starts heading back into the town to get some food before he would set off on yet another hunt for monsters, she chases after him,

"The hell us that suppose to mean?!"

He sighs at her,

"It means what it means."

She growls at him,

"Then what are you?"

Zoro shrugs his shoulders,

"Not really sure, probably a demi-demon."

She freezes,

"Demon?!"

He nods,

"Yea, I was a human but a few things led to me possessing demon blood so I guess I would be a demi-demon."

She sighs in defeat,

"I can't even tell if you're joking or not."

He chuckles at her,

"Don't worry about it kid."

She mutters,

"I'm not a kid."

They make their way back into town and looks for a place to eat, coming across the bar again Zoro chooses to enter it to get another steak and sake. As he enters the bar it becomes completely silent as everyone in the bar stops what they're doing and looks at him, Zoro completely ignores this and sits at the bar stool calling the barkeeper over.

"Oy, can I get some sake and a steak."

The barkeeper being broken from his stupor responds,

"Y-Yea!"

He scurries away leaving a very confused Zoro,

"Everyone sees you as some hero that can save them from this plague of monsters."

He turns to looks at Asaka confused,

"What? I'm not a hero, I was just annoyed that you guys would be scared over something that weak."

She chuckles,

"You defeated it, you're their hero."

He groans at her,

"Sure whatever."

The barkeeper nervously places the food in front of him, he ignores this and digs into the food hoping to get out of here as soon as he could to do some more monster hunting. Halfway through his meal he chokes on his food as someone slaps his back, hitting his chest so that he would choke to death he steadies himself and turns around to glare at whoever it was that had hit him. It was a man that looked really similar to Asaka who had slapped his back, he glares at him,

"What the hell was that for?"

The man laughs,

"You're the hero of this town man, can't I at least congratulate you for your victory against the cyclops?"

Zoro narrows his eyes confused,

"Cyclops?"

The man stares at him for a moment before laughing,

"You didn't even know what it was?"

Zoro grumbles at him and returns to his food hoping that the man would leave him alone,

"You must not be from around here, the names Asato."

Zoro growls at him,

"Don't care, leave me alone."

The man just laughs at him, Asaka speaks up this time,

"Aniki why are you here?"

Zoro looks at the two of them seeing the obvious resemblance before groaning in annoyance hoping that he wouldn't be anything like Asaka,

"I heard a green-haired man with three swords took down a cyclops in two-hits so I had to come and see this myself! Though what is his name?"

Asaka pauses for a moment thinking,

"Yea, what is your name?"

Zoro quickly finishes his food, tosses a few berries to the barkeeper and races out of the bar hoping to shake the two of them off. He doesn't stop until he's well into the forest, finally stopping he breathes a sigh of relief thinking that he shook them off,

"Hey, why did you run?"

Zoro jolts up to see Asaka hanging upside down from a tree branch with a confused grin on her face, Zoro grumbles and turns around only to find himself face to face with Asato.

"Hey, green man why did you run?"

Zoro yells in frustration,

"Can you guys just leave me alone?!"

They both chuckle at him, he sighs in frustration and continues further into the jungle to see what else was on this island. They follow him chatting with each other and probably asking him questions too but he ignored them for the most part, after a few moments he stumbles upon a group of hellhounds feasting on the bodies of the giants he killed yesterday, he crouches and studies the group. Most of them were about the size of a normal dog a few of them larger but none of them seemed to be big enough to pose a threat to any of them, he turns towards Asaka and Asato to see them looking at the group of hellhounds like they were a dangerous threat both of them completely on edge. He quirks an eyebrow at them and is about to say something but he stops when he sees one of the hellhounds stops gorging itself and sniffs the air before quickly snapping its head in their direction, the two of them back off while Zoro sighs and unsheathes his Sandai Kitetsu. The beast growls at him signaling the others of Zoro's presence they all turn towards him and start growling before moving to surround him,

"Run!"

He spares a glance to see Asaka and Asato atop trees and yelling at him in panicked states, he chuckles at them,

"Don't worry about it."

They looks at him worryingly but they could do nothing as the hellhounds had already surrounded Zoro, they growl menacingly at him but Zoro was not impressed. He grins darkly at them letting off a bit of his killing intent,

"Come at me."

This seems to unnerve the beasts a bit as a few of them back off slightly before pausing and resuming their growling, two brave ones charge forward intent on killing or at least injuring him. Zoro grins at this like a mad man and waits for the right moment dashing to the side and cutting one of the beast completely in two, while bringing his fist down on the second one slamming it into the ground cracking the ground a bit while doing so. He grins shaking the blood off his fist before looking at the remaining hellhounds,

"Who's next?"

The display of power seemed to scare the beast as the rest of them quickly retreat, Zoro chuckles at this,

"Can't have any of you escaping now can I?"

He points his blade towards the retreating hellhounds,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

The piercing bolt shoots through three of the hellhounds instantly killing them leaving only two remaining,

"Jinsoku!"

He quickly dashes forward bringing his blade down on one of the hellhounds before arching his blade to the left to slash into the last hellhound, Zoro grins as he shakes the blood off his blade before turning to join Asaka and Asato who had watched this all happen from their hiding spot atop the trees. He looks at them like it was an everyday occurrence before grinning,

"Let's keep on going."

He walks ignoring their slack-jawed look and continued on his way deeper into the forest humming a happy-tune, the two siblings follow him cautiously as the sight of him butchering seven hellhounds then humming a happy-tune unnerved them deeply. But they still followed him curious about what kind of man he was, Zoro happily continues down the path keeping an open eye for any monsters that could approach them.

"So where's the castle?"

This causes the two of them to freeze and snap their heads towards him,

"W-what! You're not seriously going to head to the castle are you?!"

He quirks an eyebrow at them,

"Why not?"

Asato grabs him by the shoulder and shakes him violently,

"You can't! Pallas and his beast would kill you!"

Zoro pushes Asato's hand off his shoulder,

"I'd like to see them try."

Asato growls at him,

"You don't get it! Countless people have tried and everyone of them died!"

He narrows his eyes at him,

"You don't have to follow me or even associate with me, if I die I die it would have no ill effect on you or your people."

Asato couldn't muster anything to say to him as Zoro turns around and continues on his way leaving the two siblings alone standing there conflicted about their next decision,

"We can't just let him die!"

Asato looks in the direction in which Zoro had walked towards,

"He's determined to do so, there's nothing we can really do about it."

Asaka narrows her eyes obviously frustrated at him but she knew that there was little that they could do about it,

"Let's head back for now, getting caught here at night isn't a good idea."

She nods and they both quickly head back into town both worried about the future of the swordsman. Zoro slowly makes his way through the forest in search of the castle that they spoke of, it was proving to be more difficult than he had anticipated as after countless minutes of wandering Zoro had still yet to come across or even find any evidence of the castle. He was slowly growing frustrated as he continued to wander around the forest clearly lost, he starts muttering to himself,

"Would have helped if those two just told me where the castle is."

He is shaken from his thoughts when he feels the presence of a creature to his left, he turns in time to see it was a giant bull like creature holding an axe above his head ready to strike him down. Seeing this Zoro goes wide-eyed and instantly rolls backwards to avoid the strike from the beast,

"Huph, that was close."

He unsheathed his blades ready to fight the beast,

"The hell are you suppose to be?"

The beast roars at him in response and Zoro grins at it,

"Should never have asked, you're too stupid to respond anyway."

For some reason the beast seemed to understand him as it roared once again louder and more aggressively before charging at him, he brings his blades up to block the beast. When the beast locked his horns with Zoro's blades they had a brutal back and forth, neither gaining nor losing ground as they struggled for the upper hand. Finally having enough of the standstill both of them disengage and back up a bit glaring intensly at each other, Zoro is about to attack again when he hears a voice above him.

"I heard that something was going around killing the creatures I had summoned onto the island, never expected it to be a feeble human."

Zoro spares a glance to see a giant figure similar to the giants he saw but much thinner and more refined,

"Who the hell are you?"

The figure grins madly at him,

"I am the titan of warcraft Pallas!"

Zoro narrows his eyes at him,

"So you're Pallas huh."

Pallas chuckles at him,

"Seeing as you are a simple human there is no need for me to get involved, Chimera take care of him."

Zoro watches as yet another strange beast enters, this time it had the body of a lion with a snake for it's tail, Zoro looks at the creature oddly before getting into a fighting stance. The beast charged forward swiping at him, Zoro dodges this strike but didn't expect the Minotaur to appear to his side and strike him, Zoro brings his blades up to block the strike but he was unprepared for the power behind the strike. Unable to fully stop the attack Zoro is sent flying back barreling into trees and many rock structures before he finally slows down and stops on the ground somewhere, chuckling Zoro picks himself off the floor and dusts himself off.

"So that guy is Pallas."

He chuckles at this and prepares to head back into the forest to fight the beast and Pallas again,

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

Zoro pauses turning to his side to see Asaka and Asato staring at him in shock, he grins madly at them,

"Found Pallas."

The whole town is silent as Zoro slowly walks towards the forest before collectively yelling,

"YOU WHAT?!"

**That's a wrap this was an interesting chapter for me to write, as you can tell I'm taking things from Greek Mythology causes why not. I always found Greek Mythology to be really interesting so I added it in since it would create a lot of things for Zoro to fight, I'm not exactly great with demons and all so I decided to take this path in the story instead. Though as much fun as I'm having writing chapters like this I doubt that I could extend this arc more than one or two more chapters, especially since Zoro had already seen Pallas so he would most definitely chase after him right after taking out the monsters. Now I'm just trying to find a way to extend it a bit since I really do enjoy writing something like this, though I probably won't find something good to extend it so I'm sad about that. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thank you for reading.**


	30. Roaring Beast and Dying Monsters

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man****, there's also a poll on my profile so vote for that!**

"You've be kidding me!"

Zoro grumbles at Asaka who was yelling at him,

"Well I'm not."

Zoro ignores the cries from the townsfolk and walks back into the forest in search of Pallas and his monsters,

"What are you doing?!"

Zoro sighs,

"I'm going to look for those two monsters who sent me flying and I'm gonna kill them."

She looks at him in shock,

"Stop! You can't, if you kill one of his monster generals Pallas will take out his anger on our town!"

Zoro chuckles at her,

"Then I'll kill him too."

She grabs his shoulder spinning him around with an enraged expression on her face,

"You don't get it you asshole! You can't just go killing anything you want!"

Zoro narrows his eyes at her before shaking her hand off his shoulder,

"Then what are you going to do? Simply live in fear for the rest of your life as monsters stumble into your town killing anyone that they come across?"

She tenses up before stuttering out a few words,

"N-No that's n-!"

Zoro interrupts her,

"Then what? What are you going to do?!"

She grabs her sides and looks down causing Zoro to scoff,

"Exactly, you guys don't do anything, you fear so much and never try to change it. You hide behind the excuse that the monsters are too powerful instead of changing yourself so to be able to live a better life."

She snaps,

"We tried and thousands of us died!"

Zoro gives her a blank expression before turning around and continuing into the forest,

"Then live complacent with your miserable existence, I'm going to do what I do best."

With that Zoro leaves Asaka standing there as he dashes into the forest activating his Observation Haki to search for the monsters that he had fought, to his luck he didn't have to search for long as the Chimera pounced at him from above. Zoro grins at this and rolls out of the way unsheathing all three of his blades, putting Wado Ichimoji into his mouth he dashes forward to attack the beast, though he paid special attention to the snake that was its tail as it surprised him by shooting out a column of flames at him. Dodging the flames he jumps backward to avoid the lions paw before striking at the beast, but once again he is surprised as his strike only left a shallow cut on the beast before he was forced to avoid another strike from it. He narrows his eyes at the beast seeing it roar at him in a mocking manner, he growls at this at charges the beast this time opting for a stronger attack,

"Rengoku Oni Giri!"

This attack seemed to be able to pierce through the beasts hide much better than a normal strike, he grins as the beast roars in pain before jumping back and glaring at him. Zoro brings his blades up into a defensive stance preparing for any strike that the beast would send his way, the beast enraged at the wounds he had suffered at Zoro's hands starts shaking violently. Zoro narrows his eyes as the beast, finally after a few moments the beast stops shaking instead he stood stock still staring at Zoro. In a flash the beast is engulfed in flames and charged at Zoro much faster than before,

"Urg!"

The beast slams into Zoro's blades slowly pushing him back, dealing with just the beast wouldn't have been that difficult but with the flames making it difficult to stay close to it for long as the heat was unbearable. Zoro pushes the beast back a bit, enough for him to jump back and study his opponent again. He coats his blade in Haki so that they wouldn't break and Soul-Devouring Flames so to add a bit more power behind his strikes, the beast charges at him enraged beyond belief, once again the two of them clash. This time Zoro attack from above the beast, he brings his blades down onto the beast back hoping to that it would incapacitate it. But the snake for its tail shoots striking at Zoro, he deflects the strike but his attack on the beasts back no longer possessed the same amount of power so it was unable to pierce through the Chimera's thick hide. The beast strikes him with his paw sending him flying into the trees,

"Guh! My back's gonna hurt so much in the morning."

He grumbles picking himself up and dodging the Chimeras strike, the beast was no longer enraged but it was still dangerous, the beast slowly backed away growling at him while doing so. Zoro narrows his eyes charging forward to stop the beast from escaping but is blocked by the arrival of three new beasts, he narrows his eyes at them. They were like overgrown lizards with multiple heads, the on in the front opens its mouth and spits a green liquid at him. Not wanting to take any risk Zoro jumps out of the way watching as the green projectile lands and starts to dissolve the area that it had touched,

"So it spits acid, better watch out for that."

He looks at the heads on the beast and decides to test out if it could survive with one of it's heads being chopped off,

"Jinsoku!"

He races towards the beast his blade held over his head, he brings the blade down severing the beasts head from its neck. He jumps back to see how the beast would react to its lost head, to his utter amazement he watches as the beast not only let out any blood but also regrow not one but two heads from the stump. He glares at the beast,

"You're going to be a tricky bastard to kill."

The beast on the left charges at him trying to take a bite out of him, he dodges this and brings his blades up to block the strikes that came from the other heads. Growling in annoyance he jumps back to study his new opponent,

"You have to set the stump on fire so that its head won't grow back!"

He spares a glance to see Asaka atop the trees with a torch in her hands yelling at him, he grins at this and charges forward so to cut as many heads as he can. He was lucky enough to severe four of the hydra heads, jumping back he points one of his blades at the stumps,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

He fires four consecutive bolts of fire at the stumps on the beasts head, he watches in awe as the beast roars in pain but its heads does not regrow. He grins at this, now that he knew how to defeat these beast it would be no problem for him to kill every last one of them. He quickly makes short work of them before sighing and sitting down by a tree and closing his eyes,

"That monster wasn't too hard."

Asaka scoffs,

"That was a hydra and it's not that difficult to deal with if you have a few more people and a strategy."

He pops one eye open to look at her,

"I wasn't talking about those ones."

She quirks an eyebrow at him,

"Then which one are you talking about?"

He shrugs,

"Don't know it's name but it was like a lion with a snake for its tail."

Asaka freezes,

"You fought the Chimera?"

He shrugs again,

"Sure I guess, like I said I don't know it's name."

Cracking as he cracked a few parts of his body while stretching, Zoro stands up,

"God I'm getting old."

He walks past Asaka patting her shoulder before heading into town hoping to get some food and rest, he hears Asaka following behind him and spars her a glance as she hangs her head down and sighs in defeat. He chuckles at this,

"What's got you down?"

She looks at him with a tired look on her face,

"Dealing with you is a pain in the ass."

He snorts,

"Nobody told you to stick around me, I can take care of myself there's no need for you to follow me around"

She sighs at him but can't argue against him, but she couldn't do much as a few moments after a burning pain shoots through her shoulder.

"AHHH!"

Zoro spins around to see Asaka gripping her now bleeding shoulder in pain,

"Hey what happened?"

She is about to answer but in a flash a tail shot out and grabbed her by the waist and drags her into the forest, cursing Zoro takes off to chase after her but is blocked by the bull-like creature again. Zoro growls at it,

"Get out of my way beef-brain!"

He dashes at the beast hoping to cut it down and chase after Asaka but the beast brings it's axe up and blocks his strike, they weapons are locked for a few moments as they glare at each other before they disengage and distance themselves from each other. The beast growls out what seems like a taunt to Zoro before turning around and retreats back into the forest, surprise by by it's actions Zoro takes a second to react, sheathing his blades Zoro races after the beast hoping to catch up to the ones who had abducted Asaka. Enraged Zoro loses his composure for a second giving the monsters in the forest their opportunity to attack, emerging from the forest were a wide assortment of different monsters that Zoro had never seen and there were hundreds of them heading towards him. Cursing his mistake he grinds to a halt jumping back to avoid a strike from one of the beasts and quickly unsheathes his blades,

"I'm not in a good mood right now, get out the way or die."

As expected they only respond in aggressive growls and snarls, Zoro gives them his own snarl before dashing forward to attack,

"Jinsoku!"

Quickly dashing between the beast and cutting them down in a single strike Zoro fights the army of monsters, after a few moments he slows down and jumps back to study his handiwork. He had cut down a portion of the army but there were still a few left, growling he has enough of dealing with these small fries,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

The bolt tears through most of the remaining bits of the army instantly killing most of them, he huffs in annoyance and charges at the few remaining monsters who happen to be two snake like ladies and a few giants. He tears through the giants quickly and heads towards the snake ladies, his strike decapitates one of them and tears an arm of the second one. The second one screams in pain and tries to back away from Zoro,

"You're not going to get away with this!"

Zoro rolls his eyes and prepares to kill her too,

"Master Pallas has already sent a much bigger army to destroy that little town of your!"

Zoro freezes at this and glares at her,

"When did he send it?!"

She scoffs but screams in pain again when he severs her other arm,

"About an hour ago!"

He growls and brings the blade over his head to split the monster in two,

"Wait I told you what you wanted! Don't kill me!"

Zoro snarls at her,

"I have no sympathy for you creatures."

With that Zoro splits her body clean in two, he spins around and races for the town hoping that the monsters had yet to reach it. He transforms his tattoo into wings once again and soars above the trees hoping to catch a glimpse of the town, to his horror the town was on fire but the screams indicated that there were still people alive. With a strong flap of his wings he shoots towards the town like a bullet, once closer he notices a few people fighting back three giants, one of these people being Asato. He swings to the right of the three giants and readies an attack,

"Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!"

The spiral of flames tears through the first one easily before slamming into the second one and with Zoro's momentum sends it barreling towards the third one, impacting the two remaining giants the flames cause the giants to implode. He shakes the blood off his blade and studies his surrounding looking for more monsters,

"Where's Asaka! She was chasing after you!"

Zoro grimaces,

"She was abducted."

Asato grabs Zoro violently,

"What! Why didn't you save her?!"

He narrows his eyes and shakes him off,

"Something came up, but we have other things to worry about right now."

Before Asato could even respond Zoro shoots into the air to search for more monsters, he notices a few more in the town but what catches his attention was the rumbling from within the forest. He narrows his eyes to try see what could be causing the rumbling but can't seem to find anything definitive, he fly's closer to investigate the rumbling. He growls as he sees the massive army of monsters that were slowly approaching the town, he flies back to the town to dispose of the monsters and prepare the townsfolk for the impending battle. After finishing off the few giants within the town he touches down onto the ground and retracts his wings back into the tattoo,

"EVERYONE!"

That seemed to catch their attention,

"THERE IS AN ARMY OF MONSTERS NUMBERING IN THE THOUSANDS SLOWLY APPROACHING YOUR TOWN!"

This seemed to cause them to panic which greatly annoyed Zoro,

"QUIET!"

That shut them up quickly,

"THERE ARE THREE THINGS YOU CAN DO NOW. PICK UP A WEAPON AND FIGHT THE MONSTERS THAT ARE TO COME DEFENDING YOUR HOMETOWN, ESCAPE THE INCOMING BATTLE, OR SIT HERE WAITING FOR YOUR DEATH!"

Zoro pauses for a moment to take a breath,

"TAKE YOUR PICK AND BE OFF WITH IT, IF YOU WISH TO JOIN THE FIGHT THEN I SHALL BE WAITING AT THE NORTH ENTRANCE OF THIS TOWN TO MEET THE MONSTERS HEAD ON!"

Zoro ignores the cries of fear and outrage from the townsfolk and fly's to the side of the town in which the approaching army of monsters were to enter from, he stands there silently waiting for both the army of monsters to appear and any townsfolk that were willing to fight. Sitting there Zoro watches as the monster army slowly emerged from the forest with a giant of a man that looked like Pallas leading the charge,

"Hah, one measly human here to stop this army of monsters, you guys must be more stupid then I thought."

Zoro rolls his eyes at this taunt and stands up unsheathing his blades,

"You can't defeat this army much less defeat me, Perses the titan of destruction!"

Zoro pauses for a moments,

"So you aren't Pallas?"

This question causes Perses to stiffen,

"I am a titan too boy do not disregard my existence in place for my brothers!"

Zoro rolls his eyes,

"I'm acknowledging yours or Pallas' existence, he simply has a friend of mine so I'm going to have to kill him. Would have been better if he was here though killing his brother would be fun too."

Perses growls at him,

"You are simply one human how could you ever hope to defeat me!"

Another voice arrives,

"He is not the only one!"

Zoro doesn't spare a glance to the new voice knowing exactly who it was, Perses scoffs,

"A few more humans join the battle how is that going to change anything?"

Zoro chuckles at Perses before tilting his head to the side with a crazed look on his face,

**"Shut the fuck and lets get to fighting."**

This seemed to unnerve the army of monsters and the humans that had heard the demonic words that emerged from Zoro's mouth, though it didn't seem to have affected Perses he was still weary of Zoro seeing as he seemed like a madman.

"Charge!"

The monsters burst forward roaring in delight as they race towards Zoro, Asato, and the few townsfolk that had decided to fight. Zoro grins at the army of monsters racing towards him,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

A bolt of fire shoots forward penetrating through five of the monsters before imploding causing the beasts charge to be disrupted in a fiery blaze, everyone watches in awe at the display of power Zoro shows. They don't see Zoro charge forward into the flame,

"Ashura no Kohai!"

The ground cracks and the monster that Zoro attacked exploded under the power behind the attack leaving everyone with the sight of Zoro grinning like a maniac covered with blood and guts while being surrounded by a sea of flames, it was truly a demonic sight that caused people on both sides of the battlefield to take a step back in fear.

"Who's next?"

The simple phrase shakes them all back into reality as Zoro stares down the opposing army like they were nothing but ants to him, Perses growls at this,

"Get him you pathetic monsters! You outnumber him by so much he'll eventually run out of energy!"

Being commanded to do so the monster army races towards Zoro who was still standing there grinning at the incoming monsters, once the closest giant was within range he shot forward.

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

Depending on destructive power instead of piercing power this time he shot a fireball at the giant sending it flying back into the other monsters before the flames engulfed that part of the army,

"Is that all you've got?!"

Asato shivers hearing Zoro laugh as he slaughtered the masses of monsters like it was nothing,

"He is a terrifying man."

Zoro continues on his way cutting down any monster that would get close to him advancing towards Perses who was seething at the sight of Zoro tearing his army apart,

"This could barely be considered a warm up, come on bring me a real challenge!"

Perses growls at him but decides that charging in to fight him would not be a good idea, he sends in a monster he knew that Zoro would not be able to take on as easily,

"Minotaur, Manticore! Take him out!"

The two corresponding beast step forward and watch stare at their opponent, at the sight of the Minotaur and Manticore, Zoro's grin drops greatly surprising everyone. Perses studies this with a sense of curiosity,

"Why would the sight of the Minotaur and Manticore make him stop his rampage?"

He watches in fascination as Zoro takes out another blade,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

The blade disappears leaving Zoro to be engulfed in a dark wave of energy, they watch as Zoro changes into his Decimation form. Perses narrows his eyes at this wondering what this would change, Zoro takes one step forward before disappearing. Perses stares in shock and is overcome by a sense of dread as he could no longer see where the green-haired swordsman was, frantically searching around for him he finally spots him above the Minotaur with an expression of pure rage before he severed one of the Minotaur's arms off. He watches in fear as Zoro slowly tortures the beast to death on the battlefield, severing all its limbs, gouging its eyes out, disemboweling the beast, all while looking at the beast with a dark expression on his face.

"Where is she?"

The Minotaur couldn't speak as its body was racking with pain, at that Zoro pierces one of its lungs inciting yet another scream of pain from the beast.

"Don't make me ask again."

He raises his blade fully intent on killing the beast but stops when he senses an attack hurtling towards him, he lazily brings his blade up to deflect the spikes that the Manticore sent towards him. Zoro sends a dark glare at the beast and slowly walks towards it deflecting every attack that it sent towards him easily, the beast seeing the slowly advancing Zoro stops its assault to move to a different spot hoping to avoid confronting the swordsman who had easily defeated the Minotaur just seconds before. But it would not be able to get far as the moment that he turned around he was face to face with Zoro who's red and black eyes bore into it, slowly backing away in fear the Manticore strikes at Zoro one last time in a desperate attempt to at least injure him but when his lifts its tail up to attack it is instantly severed by Zoro who looked like he hadn't even moved at all. Perses can only watch in horror as two mythical beasts were utterly helpless against this human, he grits his teeth in frustration and grabs readies his spear to fight Zoro. He slowly inches closer weary of the speed and power that he had displayed just a moment earlier, once he was within a certain distance Zoro's head instantly snapped towards him. Still possessing the blank expression on his face he stares at the slowly approaching Perses and decapitates the Manticore, he points his sword at the dying body of the Minotaur and finishes him off too,

"Kaitai Ryusei!"

Never once taking his gaze off Perses, he slowly approaches Perses his expression finally changing a bit,

"Let's hope you are more of a fight than those two weak creatures."

Perses growls and shoots forward trying to pierce Zoro through immediately, Zoro deflects the strike but is fascinated by the amount of power behind the strike that it would cause him to properly deflect it unlike his usual lazy ones. He decides to toy around with the titan before he would completely destroy him, he watches the titan try to attack him relentlessly as he watches the strikes coming one after the other he had a random thought in his head,

"This must be how Mihawk felt when I first fought him."

He is shaken from his thoughts when Perses yells at him,

"Do not toy with me human, if you do it will be your downfall!"

Zoro looks at him oddly,

"But you have yet to land a strike on me and I have yet to put any effort into attacking or defending against your strikes."

Perses growls at him,

"Destruction's Call!"

Zoro watches curiously as Perses body is engulfed in a red energy that would solidify into crimson armor, his blade is too engulfed by the red energy turning it into a longer and much sharper spear that radiated with energy. Zoro quirks an eyebrow at this,

"You have become more powerful but still yet to be powerful enough to defeat me."

Perses snarls at him,

"Try me!"

He charges forward and Zoro can feel the difference in power between his current form and his base form, it was a very large change but it was not enough for him to be able to overpower Zoro. Steadying his blade and taking out a second one he finally goes on the offensive,

"Nitoryu lai: Rashomon!"

The blades clash but Zoro doesn't stop there he spins around and strikes again,

"Nigiri Maguma!"

He could see that his attacks were straining Perses greatly as his second strike forces him onto his knee, Zoro kicks Perses in the side sending him sprawling. He walks up to him and grins,

"Nigiri Hirameki!"

The air projectiles slam into Perses spear sending it flying up but not out of his grasp, though it left him wide open. Zoro speaks up with a happy tone,

"Gotcha Nitoryu Ashura Hakai!"

He slashes Perses across the chest diagonally with his two blades causing his armor to crack and him to cough up blood as he glared at Zoro with bloody eyes, Zoro scoffs at him,

"Too weak."

Perses roars and charges forward giving off his final attack,

"Demolishing Strike!"

Zoro blocks the strike to feel how much power would be behind it, he was disappointed as the strike barely even moved him.

"If that was all you had then you should be disappointed in yourself."

Perses looks up with exhausted eyes,

"Wha-?!"

But Zoro had already grew tired of him beheading the titan of destruction, he watches with glee as Perses' head falls off its shoulders and the body collapses into a bloody heap. Pulling himself from his demented thoughts he turns back to see what remained of the monster army that Perses brought, he could see clearly that the majority of the monsters were still alive but disheartened after seeing Zoro defeat both their general and two mythical beast. He turns to see the townsfolk all slightly bruised and bloody but still hanging in there staring at him with a lock of complete shock, he grins at them before turning back to the monsters and giving them a demonic grin,

"I'll give you a choice, run or die!"

The monsters register his words and take a moment to pull themselves together before scrambling back into the forest, but Zoro chuckles at this,

"You really thought I was going to let you guys go? What kind of idiots are you guys?"

With that he races forward slowly cutting down any monsters that he comes upon in quick succession, one by one the monsters are all cut down by Zoro. Though a few of them do escape his rampage most of them do not, after finishing up Zoro shakes the blood off his blade and sheathes it heading back towards the town. Finally emerging from the forest he sees the remnants of the fighting townsfolk all collapsed on the ground from exhaustion, he chuckles at them,

"Did anyone die?"

Asato answers,

"Of the few that came to fight only about four died, the rest of us are either incapacitated or just slightly injured."

After hearing this Zoro sighs and sits down across from them,

"I'm gonna take a bit of a break then head back in. Anyone got some water?"

Someone tosses him a mug of water, he nods in appreciation and gulps the water down eagerly. After doing so he closes his eyes and meditates for a few moments so to calm his blood lust, after doing so he sighs and stands up heading into the forest,

"Where are you going?"

He recognizes the voice as Asato,

"I'm going to kill Pallas."

The answer shocks them,

"Why?!"

Zoro chuckles,

"Cause he pissed me off."

With that he disappears into the forest leaving the shocked townsfolk watching his fading frame,

"Can he defeat Pallas?"

Asato narrows his eyes,

"Who knows, but if he does you know what that means?"

They all think for a moment trying to think of what Pallas' defeat would mean for them, Asato smiles,

"We'll be free."

The statement takes a second to sink in before they start celebrating, Asato looks into the forest,

"Free us from our torment Mr. Swordsman."

Zoro hears them celebrating but ignores it in favor of focusing on the task at hand, finally he comes across his destination Pallas' castle. He stares at the giant building with a calculating look on his face before stepping forward onto the bridge to the castle, he looks over the side to see the moat underneath contained a few creatures that he was unfamiliar with. Ignoring them he continues onto the castle only for a creature to shoot towards him, sensing this Zoro rolls back unsheathing his blades and entering a defensive stance waiting for the beast to attack again. The beast doesn't strike again, it simply hovers by the castle staring at him,

"My, my, my you did survive the battle against the group of monsters that I sent at you."

Zoro narrows his eyes to see Pallas standing on the balcony of the castle with a condescending looks on his face,

"You must know that I also sent a army numbering in the thousands into that town of yours."

Zoro grins at this,

"I know."

Pallas' grin drops a bit,

"Ohh you did? So you abandoned your people?"

Zoro chuckles,

"They aren't my people, though I must say for a titan of destruction he was pretty easy to kill."

At that any trace of amusement of Pallas' face disappeared,

"So my brother failed?"

Cracking his neck Zoro grins darkly at him,

"Where is Asaka?"

Pallas glares at him before adopting a neutral expression,

"There is no need for you to know as you will die soon enough, Kampe kill him!"

The beast that was floating by the castle lets out a roar before diving towards Zoro, he grins at this and transforms his tattoo into wings shooting towards the beast.

"After I'm done with this ugly shit you're next Pallas!"

**That's a wrap next chapter will be the conclusion of this little arc at Hell's Gate, I enjoyed writing it though I feel like I could a little more story behind it though I've already gone this far I decided to just have it be an arc completely dedicated to Zoro slaughtering things which is fucking awesome. But on that note some of you might be thinking that some of the ways that Zoro acted during the story might be very weird and I'm just gonna say, the dude had all his friends murdered then he went back in time to save him only to have a demon hunt him down. Yes he defeated the demon but Volron is trapped within his body right now, even though he is trapped that doesn't mean Volron will just wait silently within Zoro's body. Though most of the behavioral changes is due to the demon energy from Volron slowly seeping into his body so it would greatly change him. I have something in mind for that but for now it's gonna stay as a little detail within the story. Now with that someone left a review saying that Zoro could have easily avoided the Strawhats separation by stopping Camie from getting kidnapped and what I say to that is, (Sheepishly) I actually did not think about that at all funny enough so props to you for thinking of something that I completely bypassed. Though I was still going to have the Strawhats separated seeing as the timeskip was a huge thing for all of them. Honestly I think I'm just going to take a bit of a break for like a week or two, I'm kind of exhausting myself a bit and it isn't exactly great for my health. So I'm not gonna update for the next week or two depending on how things go. Once again if you're reading and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	31. Tomb of Resurrection

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man, there's also a poll on my profile so vote for that!**

This creature was more difficult to fight than Perses was which was kind of insulting to titans, though Zoro could care less,

"Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

The projectile misses the beast and he growls as he avoid a strike from above,

"What is she too much for you to handle mortal?"

Pallas was mocking him and he knew that, though as much as he wanted to deny it this situation was making him lose his patience. He thought that Pallas and Perses would be the two strongest of the bunch, but it seems that he was strong seeing as the creature that he was fighting, Kampe he think Pallas called her, was much stronger than Perses.

"I though you and Perses would be the two top ones of this island but it seems this monster is stronger than your brother."

He could feel Pallas frown at him but remain silent as Zoro continued to fight Kampe,

"Hono no Tatsumaki!"

Yet again his strike misses, Kampe wasn't proving to be a powerful opponent but an agile one making it very difficult for Zoro to even land hits on her. He growls as the creature races around him constantly avoiding his attacks and landing a few attacks of her own. Finally having enough Zoro backs away,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

Pallas and Kampe watch in fascination as Zoro is engulfed in a dark energy and emerges a different person,

"A makeover isn't going to help you!"

Pallas says this but he was cautious about what this transformation would bring, this was the man that had defeated his brother who was weaker than him but was by no means a weak fighter. Zoro stares at them blank faced but the moment that Kampe moved forward Zoro disappeared surprising both of them,

"Gahh!"

Pallas snaps towards the scream to see Zoro had severed one of Kampes arms and a bit of her wing, Kampe retreats back to nurse he injury a bit but the moment she lost focus Zoro shot forward towards her. She raises her scimitars to try block his strike which only serve to weaken the blow slightly as the strike sends her flying into the castle, Zoro floats towards her downed body and executes her. He turns towards Pallas only to find that he had disappeared, he grins to himself,

"So he's going to hide, well I'm fine with searching for him it'll make killing him feel so much better."

He enters the castle in search of Pallas but underestimates just how difficult that his task would be seeing as the castle was like an enormous labyrinth,

"Where the fuck are you, you piece of shit titan!"

He growls in frustration quickly running through the halls looking for Pallas, after a few more moments of cursing and running he comes across a locked door that had blood slowly leaking from within the room. He puts a hand on his blade and one of the door ready to fight anything that may emerge from the door, he swings the door open and can only stare with rage as he finds the room to be filled with the corpses of people.

"You bastard!"

He slams the door shut and quickly rolls back to dodge the paw of a beast, he looks at it to see that it seemed to be a normal lion. He narrows his eyes at it and charges forward to strike it but is surprised when his sword simply bounces off the beast, he jumps back to avoid another strike but is met by another attack from the a beast he had fought earlier, he thinks Pallas called it the Chimera. The paw slams into his back sending him crashing into the wall, he grits his teeth and immediately avoids a torrent of fire from the beast. He could take the Chimera easily but this new beast was going to be a bit more difficult seeing as his blades wouldn't even touch him, quickly making up his mind he retreats hoping to find Pallas while thinking of a way to defeat the new creature. He could hear the two monsters chasing him but dismisses this as he finally notices a glowing tile on the floor, he quickly runs to it and opens it jumping down to avoid the other two beasts. Breathing a sigh of relief he slowly follows the light within the trapdoor, after a few moments of walking he stumbles upon a gigantic underground lair. He inspects the place a bit before focusing back on the light, looking downward he sees a gigantic glowing circle being surrounded by countless men in dark robes. Looking closer he could see that within the circle was a tomb and Asaka, he is about to head down there to defeat everyone of those robed men and take back Asaka but his instincts kick in causing him to bring his blade up to avoid a strike from a spear. Not being able to steady himself he is slammed back into the wall behind him, he looks up to see that the man that was holding the spear was none other than Pallas who had a arrogant look on his face.

"My I must say, I did not expect you to get this far swordsman."

Zoro growls at him but can't say anything as Pallas unleashes a barrage of strikes causing him to focus on defending against all of his strikes, one of them breaks through his guard causing the spear to slam into his stomach and send him flying off the ledge that he was on. He crashes onto the ground to see the robed men all staring at him in shock before taking out a wide variety of weapons to combat him,

"ZORO!"

He spares her a glance as he deflects attacks from the robed men,

"THE TOMB, DESTROY THE TOMB!"

He quirks an eyebrow as he cuts down one of the men,

"The tomb?"

He could only think for a moment before the shaft of a spear is slammed into his side sending him flying, he groans as he looks up to see who attacked him. It was Pallas who was staring at him with a mocking grin on his face,

"Yes mortal, the tomb is what allows us to bring monsters into your world!"

Zoro glares at him and scoffs,

"How stereotypical of a villain to monologue when he think he's won."

Pallas growls at him and shoots his spear forward to impale Zoro, but he avoids the strike by rolling to the side. He cuts down one of the robed men and tosses the body at Pallas to distract him for a moment, while Pallas was distracted he races towards the glowing circle hoping to reach the tomb and destroy it. Only to be repelled back the moment he crossed the glowing circle, he growls as he picks himself off the ground,

"Hah! You fool, you think it would be that simple? Of course not, the circle surrounding the tomb repels anything that doesn't possess ichor!"

Zoro quirks an eyebrow,

"Ichor?"

Pallas scoffs at him,

"Ichor is the blood of the gods!"

Zoro pauses for a moment before grinning at him,

"Then I guess I'll have to kill you and take your blood."

Pallas reels back in shock,

"You barbaric creature!"

Zoro chuckles,

"I've been called worse."

Zoro charges forward to attack Pallas with all three blades at the ready, they lock blades and Zoro could feel just how powerful Pallas was. Perses was nothing compared to him, it might not be enough to defeat Zoro but it was enough to make it difficult to defeat him.

"You are powerful swordsman, if you join us I can assure you a spot within the generals of the titan army!"

Zoro scoffs at him,

"Not interested."

Pallas narrows his eyes and sends a strike aimed at Zoro's leg, he notices this and deflects the attack with Sandai Kitetsu before sending a strike back at him aimed for Pallas' dominant arm. Pallas blocks this strike but is unprepared for the power behind the strike that would send him skidding backwards, he grits his teeth and glares at Zoro,

"I will offer it one last time, if you do not accept I will kill you here right now. Even if by some miracle you do defeat me and survive you can not stop the tomb from consuming your friend or the uprising of our lord Kronos!"

Zoro narrows his eyes at Pallas,

"Consume my friend? And who the hell is Kronos?"

Pallas chuckles at him,

"We use human souls to keep the tomb running and Kronos, well Kronos of the king of the titans and he will rise to rule over this world once again!"

Zoro narrows his eyes at him but doesn't say anything as they continue their fight,

"War's Embrace!"

Zoro watches as Pallas uses an ability similar to Perses and he dons a set of armor, he gets into a defensive stance waiting for Pallas to attack as he remembered that Perses had a major power up after he did this. He was right as Pallas' speed increased largely and his attack power was almost equal to his own,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

The bolt races towards Pallas causing him to dodge to the right where Zoro had dashed towards, with his blade at the ready Zoro lands a strike on Pallas' left shoulder. Pallas grits his teeth and tries to counter-attack but with an injury on one of his shoulders his speed was decreased, making it a simple task for Zoro to simply dodge the strike.

"Zoro! Hurry!"

Zoro spares a glance to see that the tomb was violently shaking and expelling dark energy, he curses as Pallas chuckles,

"You have lost! We had summoned Typhon the father of all monsters!"

Zoro narrows his eyes at the tomb before turning back to Pallas,

"You're spouting tons of names and titles that I've never heard of."

Pallas growls at him,

"You will be silenced soon enough human, the moment Typhon enters your world you have already lost."

Zoro narrows his eyes at him and charges at him hoping to kill Pallas while he was weakened,

"Hono no Tatsumaki!"

Pallas blocks the strike but is still pushed back by it, he grins at Zoro like a madman,

"I'm not down for the count yet!"

Pallas roars and charges at Zoro with renewed vigor, Zoro narrows his eyes at this and heads to attack him.

"Rengoku Oni Giri!"

But another opponent enters the battle, it was the lion from before that was with the Chimera. Pallas lets out a maddened laugh,

"A swordsman like you can not defeat the Nemean Lion!"

He jump back to avoid the strike from it only to roll to the side to avoid a column of fire from the Chimera,

"Nemean Lion?"

Pallas grins at him,

"Its golden fur is impervious to attacks!"

Zoro growls at this,

"A troublesome opponent."

He spins around and instantly charges towards the Chimera seeing that it was weakest opponent here so he would remove it first, the moment it got close it released another torrent of flames from it's snake tail. Zoro rolls to the side to avoid it only to come face to face with the Nemean Lion who slammed its head into him, he blocked the strike but is still sent back where Pallas stood over with his spear ready to pierce his chest. He dodges but the spear still manages to nick his side, he growls and jumps back clutching his side as Pallas taunts him.

"Now that they are here you no longer can win swordsman!"

He narrows his eyes at them before closing his eyes and relaxing his body a bit,

"Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

Pallas charges forward hoping to kill Zoro before he could do anything but is stopped by three blades, he stares in shock at Zoro who had grew two heads and four more arms.

"What are you?!"

Zoro chuckles,

"Don't worry about it."

He charges forward his blades at the ready but is once again blocked by the Nemean Lion who used its fur to block Zoro's strike,

"This overgrown lion is becoming annoying."

Pallas taunts Zoro once again,

"You see you can't harm it, you will never be able to defeat us!"

Zoro chuckles,

"I don't have to defeat it, I just have to remove it from the battle."

Pallas looks at him confused but Zoro acts before Pallas can say anything,

"Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

A point blank projectile sends the beast slamming into the walls of the cave, this leads to the surrounding wall collapsing on it trapping it. Zoro grins at this and Pallas takes a step back in fear,

"See told you so."

He could see that the Nemean Lion was struggling underneath the rubble but can't escape from under it, Zoro brings his blade up to block a strike from the enraged Chimera. He lazily looks at the Chimera before striking the beast leaving a slash over its eye, it roars and jumps back glaring at him with its one remaining eye. Zoro chuckles at them,

"Come at me, I don't have all the time in the wo Zororld."

Pallas growls and races towards him with his spear at the ready, he relentlessly attacked Zoro with the Chimera supporting him by shooting columns of flames at him and swiping at him once in a while. This was not a challenge as in his Ashura form he had enough hands to block all their attacks and some extra ones for counter-attacking, he shoots forward and severs Pallas' arm.

"AHHH!"

Zoro stands over the screaming Pallas, thinking that he was distracted the Chimera jumps to attack Zoro only to be split in two as Zoro dashed towards him. Zoro shakes the blood off his blade before throwing Pallas' spear away, he grabs Pallas by the neck and drags him over to the glowing circle. To his shock once he looked over towards the tomb there was something huge emerging from it, he growls at this but Pallas laughs at him,

"You're too late! Typhon has been released!"

Zoro curses and sprints towards the circle cutting down any robed men that got in his way, once he reached the circle he saw once again that he was repelled. He growls,

"How do I get past this?!"

Pallas laughs,

"You can't!"

Growling Zoro could only watch as Typhon slowly emerged from the tomb while Asaka grew paler and paler as the tomb sucked at her soul,

"Ashura!"

_"What?"_

He decapitates the laughing Pallas and drops his body,

"You know anyway to get past this?"

Ashura is silent for a moment,

_"You could try overload it with the demon energy."_

Zoro narrows his eyes,

"Will it work?"

Ashura sighs,

_"No idea but you're kinda limited here."_

Zoro growls,

"Let's hope this works!"

Zoro is enveloped by a dark energy after a few moments of the energy swirling around him he takes Decimation out and stabs it into the circles protective barrier, he could only grit his teeth as the barrier fought back against the energy slowly draining him. He starts growling as he sees Typhons entire arm emerged from the tomb and press down on the ground as leverage to get the rest of its body out,

"Come on!"

With the yell he pulls together any remaining energy he had into the his blade, the barrier flickers slightly but has still to give in as Zoro continues his efforts watching Typhon appear.

_"Take out your wings and pull the energy from them too."_

Zoro couldn't stop to think about what Ashura was saying, instantly he transforms the tattoo on his back into his wings. Oddly enough he seemed to have more energy after doing so which finally allowed him to shatter the barrier, he falls forward from exhaustion and pulls himself off the ground to get to Asaka. He goes to grab her but is sent flying by an unknown force, he slams into the wall coughing up blood while doing so. He tiredly opens one eye to looks for what had attacked him to see that it was Typhons arm, Typhons multiple heads had also emerged from the tomb allowing him to look at Zoro. He knew that if Asaka was to be removed from the circle the tomb would cease to function stopping him from entering the realm, Zoro struggles to stand up from the strike it felt like he broke a rib or two but he would have to deal with that later. Gritting his teeth he charges forward trying to avoid the giant arm but seeing as it was right next to his target it was proving to be very difficult,

"You giant blue bastard just stay out of this!"

He curses as once again Typhon slams him into the wall, he was growing more impatient as more of Typhon was slowly emerging from the tomb, finally having enough Zoro dashes towards Typhon this time instead of Asaka. When Typhon brought his hand down to attack Zoro he struck,

"Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!"

The spiral of blazing flames slammed into Typhon and they battled for a few moments before Typhon is finally pushed back, seeing his opportunity Zoro dashes towards Asaka scooping up her unconscious body. Typhon sees this and makes a grab for them but Zoro already saw this coming, he grins at Typhon before jumping up and attacking,

"Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

The projectile slams into Typhon slowing him down but that wasn't Zoro's goal as the point of this attack wasn't to harm Typhon but to propel them out of the circle, it served its goal as Zoro holding Asaka was slammed into the castle walls. He watches with a grin on his face and Typhon makes a mad grab for him but the tomb starts to pull him back in, he roars at Zoro glaring at him as his body slowly disappears within the tomb. Zoro lets out a breath of relief before laying Asaka down onto the ground and slowly hobbling towards the tomb, once he reaches it he brings his blade up intent on destroying the tomb. But he is unable to as the Nemean Lion finally escaped from beneath the rubble and dashed towards him, Zoro tries to dodge but seeing as his body was exhausted he could barely move. The Nemean Lion swipes at him an attack which lands on the right side of his ride sending him flying in a bloody heap, he picks himself off the ground and adopts a defensive stance despite his fatigue,

"His mouth!"

He freezes after hearing a voice, he turns towards the voice to see Asaka who looked a bit under the weather but better than before.

"His fur in invulnerable but the inside of his body shouldn't be!"

He takes a moment to digest this before grinning, he waits for the Nemean Lion to attack before he would end the beast. When it finally does he tries to block the strike but his strength had faded and the adrenaline within his veins was slowly fading too, snarling he stands up once again and prompts to attack.

"Torai Saiko Kaitai Ryusei!"

This time three piercing bolts of fire shot from his blade racing towards the beast, the Nemean Lion skillfully dodges everyone of them only to be met with a flaming blade.

"Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!"

The spiral of flames slams into the beast face breaking its teeth and before the spiral shoots into its mouth causing it to roar in pain as its insides are set ablaze, he swipes at the exhausted Zoro sending him stumbling back in pain. Zoro glares through his exhausted eyes as the beast roared and clawed at its throat for a few moments before finally collapsing onto the ground in a steaming heap, he looks towards Asaka before smiling,

"Told you I could defeat them."

With that Zoro finally loses all strength and collapses onto the ground, with a grin on his face and only the thought of how much stronger he had to be.

~A While Later~

Groaning Zoro tries to sit up in his battered state,

"Hey, you shouldn't be moving."

He grumbles not even opening his eyes,

"I've been through worse."

He tries to stand up but is slapped in the chest causing him to lose balance and tumble backwards,

"I said I'm fine!"

Asaka huffs,

"Doesn't matter you're still injured."

He grumbles and lays down and stares at the ceiling, they both sit there silently until someone barges into the room.

"Why so gloomy?! He just defeated Pallas and destroyed the Tomb of Resurrection, we should all be celebrating!"

Asaka glares at her brother while Zoro grumbles in annoyance,

"He's still healing from the fight he shouldn't be moving at all."

Zoro speaks up,

"I don't believe that but she won't let me move."

Asato chuckles at him before sitting down across from him,

"I never did get to thank you for saving my little sister."

Zoro pops one eye open to look at him while Asaka grew red in embarrassment,

"Stop that!"

Asato laughs at this,

"I have to, none of us would be able to save her much less defeat Pallas and his monster generals."

Zoro sighs,

"Don't worry about it, it wasn't that much trouble."

Asato chuckles,

"Wasn't that much trouble? It looks like your body went through a meat pounder!"

Zoro grumbles at him,

"If your here to thank me maybe you should quiet down a bit and let me sleep."

Asato smiles and raises his hands up in surrender,

"Sure sure."

He exits the room leaving Zoro and a semi-embarrassed Asaka alone, Asaka coughs a bit before speaking,

"He is right though, I should thank you for saving me. If you didn't I would probably be dead right now and with no soul to enter the afterlife."

Zoro sighs and sits up much to her annoyance,

"I already said not to worry about it, besides I didn't really do it for you."

Asaka sighs,

"I'm not sure whether to feel good about that or not."

Zoro chuckles,

"Do whatever you want with that."

He shakily stands up and heads for the door, Asaka protest but he ignored her and swiftly exits the room. He slowly walks forward taking in the peace and quiet he could only sigh,

"How the hell did I get roped into defeating monsters and titans?"

He hears someone scoff,

_"Because you're a retard."_

He growls at Volron,

"Where the hell have you've been, actually all three of you guys have been oddly quiet ever since I arrived why is that?"

Decimation answers this time,

"We don't like it here, it contains creatures of the Greek Pantheon."

He narrows his eyes,

"Greek Pantheon?"

Volron scoffs at him,

_"The Greek Pantheon is another one of those delusional religions."_

He sighs at this and decides not to dig any deeper, he's brought back to reality when he hears yelling and cheering coming from outside. He stretches his body a bit before heading out to see what was going on, he exits the building to see the entire town in a state of celebration. It was to be expected seeing as one of their deadliest foes were defeated and the threat of monsters invading their town had lessened greatly,

"There he is, it's the hero!"

He sighs not enjoying the fact that they were calling him a hero but went with it anyway, they surround him starting to cheer and call out to him even louder. This was grating his nerves,

"Can you please all quiet down a bit."

That seemed to work as they all quieted down instantly but the excitable energy was still in the air, he sighs and puts on a smile for the crowd. At this they all start cheering again much to Zoro's annoyance but he didn't stop this time for some bizarre reason,

"You really did save us."

He doesn't even turn towards the voice knowing exactly who it was,

"Yea I know, but I never set out to be a hero. I just do what I want to and deal with the consequences of my actions later."

She chuckles,

"What a care free lifestyle."

He sighs,

"Yea it is but it also has it's drawbacks."

She walks next to him staring into the crowd of celebrating townsfolk,

"I would assume so."

He chuckles at her,

"Shouldn't you be out celebrating with the rest of them instead of tending to a battered swordsman?"

She giggles at this before staring up into the sky,

"I usually would but this time there's something important I have to go over and partying would just make it more difficult to decide."

He looks at her oddly,

"What is there to decide?"

She giggles at him,

"Now where's the fun in just telling you?"

He chuckles and rubs the back of his head,

"Fair enough."

They sit silently as they watch the rest of the town celebrate over Pallas' defeat, finally after a few moments Zoro remembers something.

"Wait, did you destroy the tomb?"

She shakes her head,

"We couldn't destroy it no matter how much we tried."

Gritting his teeth he stands up and starts heading to Pallas' castle,

"Hey, where are you going?"

He doesn't spare her a glance as he continues towards the castle,

"Got to destroy the tomb before anything bad happens."

She chases after him,

"You should just do it in the morning, your body can't handle any opponent right now especially the monsters of the forest."

He ignores her and continues on his way,

"Hey, will you just stop for a second?!"

She grabs his shoulder stopping him from advancing,

"Why are you so determined to do it even though your body is screaming for you to stop?"

He growls at her,

"I can't rest until the job is done, the chances that the tomb is still operational is more plausible than I wish it to be!"

She narrows her eyes at him,

"Why can't you just have a break, you've done enough already. If you keep pushing yourself you'll only end up hurting yourself more!"

He glares at her,

"Because I will never let anyone get hurt again due to my own incompetence!"

She reels back after hearing this, she could only wonder what he meant but knew not to pry. He tries to shake out of her grasp but she holds onto his shoulder tightly,

"Stop, there's no need for you to do anything anymore, the battle is over."

He spins around and glares at her but slowly concedes as his body could only do so much after a beating like that, though even if his body was slowly failing him his glare never wavered. She chuckles at him,

"Come on tiger I don't want to have to drag your body back into town, I already did that once and it was not fun at all."

He sighs and quietly complies, they slowly head back into town with an awkward silence descending upon them. After a few moments Asaka spoke up,

"I've decided!"

He looks at her oddly,

"Decided what?"

She grins at him,

"I'm going leave the island and explore the world!"

He chuckles at her,

"Well good for you."

He doesn't receive a response and turns towards her to see her with one of the biggest grins he's ever seen on her face, instantly not liking it he asks,

"What?"

She jumps back and spreads her arms out before pointing at him,

"And you'll take me out to sea!"

He blinks once, then twice,

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

She giggles,

"I'm not."

He speeds up and rolls his eyes,

"I'm not taking a kid out to sea."

She pouts at him,

"I'm not a kid!"

He scoffs,

"You act like one. But what about the rest of the town, your brother do you think they'll be fine with this?"

She smiles staring into the starry sky,

"I don't think they would mind, it was always a dream of the town to be free. It would go against our dream if they were to stop me from doing what I want."

He sighs,

"I'm still not going to take you out to sea."

She slaps his back causing him immense pain,

"Come on, don't be such a hard ass about it."

He growls at her,

"The answers still no."

She chuckles,

"You'll eventually come around."

He sighs,

"I highly doubt that."

He waits for a response but doesn't receive one, pausing in his steps he turns around to look at Asaka who had stopped walking,

"What?"

She was staring at him confused,

"I never did ask for your name did I?"

He rolls his eyes,

"You didn't but your brother did."

She waves it off,

"But anyway what is your name?"

He grins at her and starts walking again,

"My name is Roronoa Zoro and I'm going to become the World's Strongest Swordsman."

**That's a wrap I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I feel like this was an actually good OC chapter. Even though it could have been better I wrote it much better than I expected it to be, next chapter will have Zoro finally leaving Hell's Gate. If he brings Asaka along with him well that's still up for debate, though I'm just gonna say he's only spent about a week on the island. We still got like two years to get through, this is literally my way of stalling. It's like my own form of filler, I'm kind of putting off continuing the canon storyline because I still have no idea how to continue it afterwards or how to end off the story. Seeing as I steamrolled through most of the canon storylines I have to think of what to do once I run out of canon material which is proving to be as difficult as I had imagined, though I doubt Oda would make great strides in the story in the time that I do stall but hey a guy can hope. This chapter came out a hell of a lot later than my chapters usually do because I've been a bit swamped with work from school and balancing my slowly degrading emotional state, it's fun and I've just been calming myself through a shit ton of video games for the past week so I apologize if I made you guys wait. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	32. Depart to the Land of the Flying Beasts

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man****, there's also a poll on my profile so vote for that!**

"For the last time, I'm not taking you out to sea!"

She grumbles,

"Why not?"

He ignores her and continues on his way,

"Come on don't ignore me!"

He groans loudly causing her to huff, thankfully she decides to quiet down for the rest of the trip as they head back to the castle. That silence only lasted till they reached the castle she would start talking again,

"Don't know why we have to get up so early in the morning to go destroy the tomb, like we could have slept a few more hours and it wouldn't have moved."

He rolls his eyes at her and continues down the stairway towards the underground cavern, he freezes once he enters the cavern.

"Where the hell is the tomb?"

Asaka pushes past him to look and is frozen in shock as the tomb, which had been there hours prior had disappeared. Zoro growls at this,

"I told you we should have destroyed it earlier!"

She raises her hands up in defeat,

"I know, but in the state you were in that wouldn't have been the greatest idea."

He glares at her,

"That doesn't change the fact that we had the chance to destroy an artifact that could very well be the downfall of this world and we lost it!"

She sighs,

"Just calm down, there's no point getting worked up over it now that it's gone."

Zoro growls at her but knew that she was right, there was nothing they could do about it now. Sighing he looks around the cavern trying to see if there were any clues to the disappearance of the tomb, after a few moments of searching he gives up seeing as there were practically no signs that could lead to the tomb being stolen. Asaka slaps his back,

"Come on, let's stop fretting about it and head back into town. This place gives me the creeps."

He sighs at this but heads towards the exit sparing one last glance at the cavern before leaving, unbeknownst to the both of them there was a dark figure hiding within the shadows grinning evilly at them.

"Come on hurry up!"

Zoro grumbles at her,

"What's the hurry?"

She stops and spins around smiling at him,

"We're setting sail today!"

He scoffs,

"For the last time, I'm not taking you out to sea."

She pouts at him,

"Why not?!"

He walks past her ignoring her presence, they quickly head back into town with Asaka screaming at him the entire time and him glaring at her. Once they enter the town they see that the rest of the town had descended into a state of construction with multiple people running around and moving large objects, he rubs the back of his head before trying to navigate through the crowds without drawing too much attention to himself.

"Swordsman?!"

He cringes at this hoping that they were talking about someone else,

"Yea it is you Mr. Swordsman! Why are you trying to hide?!"

He groans at this as the crowd of people all turn towards him, he awkwardly gives them a wave before trying to escape only to be grabbed by the back of his shirt.

"Don't go running off, you still haven't celebrated with us over your victory!"

Zoro glares at Asato,

"The rest of you town is trying to reconstruct and you want to party?"

He grins at Zoro,

"Yep!"

Zoro rolls his eyes and escapes Asato's grasp dusting himself off,

"I rather not, I'm not going to stay on this island much longer anyway."

Asato frowns at this,

"Why?"

Zoro shrugs his shoulders walking away,

"I have no need to stay."

With that Zoro heads towards the shore where he had left his boat, he had already gathered all his stuff beforehand so all that there was to do was to leave the island and continuing on his training journey. After a few moments of walking he finally reaches the shore to see the boat that Mihawk had given to him for his journey, he smiles at this and tosses his things onto it and hops onto the boat getting a feel for the rocking waves once again. Once accustomed to it he hops off the boat and starts to push the ship out to sea only to be stopped by someone yelling,

"Mr. Swordsman!"

Grumbling he stops and turns around to see Asato running towards him,

"What?"

Asato raises his hands in a way tot ell Zoro to give him a moment to catch his breath, after he does so he speaks,

"Take Asaka with you out to sea!"

Zoro blinks once, then twice,

"No way in hell."

He reels back in surprise,

"Why not?!"

Zoro scoffs,

"I don't have an obligation to nor do I want to."

Asato turns around slowly muttering to himself, Zoro could only sweat-drop at this but stands there silently while Asato contemplates his options. After a few moments he sighs and spins around, Zoro quirks an eyebrow at him waiting to see what would happen. What he didn't expect was for Asato to kowtow to him,

"Please take Asaka out to sea with you Mr. Swordsman!"

He stares at this for a second before sighing and rubbing the back of his head,

"I don't get why you're so dead set on having her go out to sea with me."

Not bringing his head up Asato speaks,

"Asaka had always been different from us, she was the only one in the entire town that had the will to try free ourselves from Pallas' cruel reign! I can not allow her to stay on this island, she must go out and explore herself not only to see what the world can give but to also discover herself!"

Zoro sighs bending his head backwards to stare at the sky for a few moments,

"Bring your head up."

Slowly Asato looks up to see how Zoro would reply,

"You must know that being with me will put her in an even more dangerous situation right?"

Asato quirks an eyebrow at him,

"What do you mean Mr. Swordsman?"

Zoro sighs rubbing the back of his head,

"I am an infamous pirate that the World Government is dead set on capturing and killing, if she were to join me they would see her as an accomplice and would most likely hunt her too. Is this what you want for her?"

Asato takes a step back in surprise before looking down,

"I know that you don't owe us anything, but please Mr. Swordsman! Take my sister out to sea and teach her to protect herself!"

Zoro sighs heavily,

"You guys never give up do you?"

Asato remains silent waiting for Zoro's response,

"No matter what I say she's already dead set on leaving, especially due to the fact that while we were having this conversation she had already tried to sneak onto my boat."

Asato blinks in surprise before looking behind Zoro to see Asaka frozen as she tried to get on the boat, she grins and sheepishly rubs the back of her head. Zoro rubs his face in annoyance before walking towards the boat, he turns towards Asaka and glares at her,

"Get on."

She takes a second to register his words before grinning like crazy,

"Hah told you that I would be coming with you one way or another!"

Zoro deepens his glare,

"Shut or I'll kick you off the boat."

She quiets down and hops onto the boat as Zoro pushes it out, Asaka turns towards the shore to see Asato standing there with a sad smile on his face waving at her. She smiles back,

"See you Asato!"

He chuckles and watches on as Zoro and Asaka leaves the island, but suddenly he remembered something important that he had forgotten. He runs towards the edge of the water before yelling at them,

"Mr. Swordsman!"

Zoro grumbles and turns towards Asato,

"What?!"

Asato takes deep breath before yelling again,

"Be careful! There is a very dangerous monster in the waters around Hell's Gate!"

Zoro grumbles at this,

"Would have been better to tell me this earlier."

He unsheathes Sandai Kitetsu and Shusui ready to take down the monster that was to emerge from beneath the depths, he walks over to the back of the boat peering into the depths searching for the beast that may emerge. After a few moments he feels the boat start to shakes slightly as the water ripples, he gets into a offensive stance waiting for the creature to emerge. Behind him Asaka gasps in fear as the beast bursts through the water,

"The Kraken!"

He narrows his eyes before speaking to her,

"Do you think I can beat it?"

She responds,

"Definitely, but the chance of our boat surviving the encounter is nonexistent."

He growls in frustration before taking out his third blade and hooking himself onto the boat,

"Asaka grabs onto something!"

He stare down the beast as he hears Asaka stumbling on the boat, once ready he stares as the beast shoots out one of it's tentacles to strike him. He growls at it,

"You got lucky this time you oversized calamari, Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

The projectile shoots towards the Kraken and also propels the ship forward, he hears Asaka scream as they soar through the air. After a few short moments they land with a thump, he chuckles and unhooks himself looking at the direction of the Kraken to see that his attack had also injured the Kraken. He grins to himself before setting sail,

"So where we heading?"

He spares her a glance before sighing,

"Who knows."

She pauses before looking at him oddly,

"Don't tell me you don't have a destination in mind?"

He shrugs his shoulders at her statement causing her to groan at him,

"Seriously!"

He closes his eyes and goes to sleep as Asaka continues to yell at him, slowly dozing off he could only imagine the next island he would come across and what he would find.

~A While Later~

"Wake up you idiot!"

Asaka kicked his shin causing Zoro to yell and and grab his shin in pain, he glared at her in annoyance before standing up and looking around.

"Where are we?"

She glares at him,

"Why do you think I know?!"

He gives her a lazy look before sighing,

"Let's just wait and see where we end up."

He chuckles as he could hear Asaka groaning in frustration behind him, as he looked towards the sea he narrowed his eyes when he noticed a far away island. Asaka would celebrate upon the the sight of the island instantly becoming excited at the prospect of reaching a new island, but Zoro continued to stare at the island as he was getting a weird feeling from the island. They slowly make their way towards the island leaving the boat anchored down by the shore of the island, immediately after arriving Asaka raced forward with excitement. He looks around cautiously before calling out to her,

"Don't go running off! We don't know what could be on this island!"

She ignores him and continues forward running around on the shore of the new island, he sighs before slowly walking after her. This island still gave off a weird feeling to him so he was on edge about this island,

"This island is so cool!"

He nods at her lazily and looks around while keeping an eye out for anything on the island,

"Is it just me or is there nobody on this island?"

Zoro narrows his eyes before looking around once again finding a very distinct lack of human life on the island, unnerved by this he puts his hands on the hilt of his blade to prepare in case of any attacks that may come. He spares one last glance at Asaka before activating his Observation Haki to search the island for any signs of life, though his Observation Haki wasn't good enough to cover the entire island it was enough for him to catch a glimpse of what he was looking for. It was a giant creature not larger than the Leviathan but not too far off from it, though one large beast wouldn't be that much of a problem for him an entire nest filled of them definitely prove a challenge for him. Now especially seeing as he had to take care of Asaka too and not simply fend for himself, grumbling he grabs Asaka and starts pulling her back to the boat.

"Hey! Where are we going?"

He continues without turning back towards her,

"Somewhere safe that isn't here."

She narrows her eyes at him and tries to pull her hand out of his grip,

"We just got here and you want to leave?!"

He growls in annoyance before spinning to look at her,

"You don't get it do you, the outside world isn't like some fairy tail land where everyone is happy and nothing ever goes wrong! You think nothing bad ever happens out here, of course it does and I'm telling you right now this island is nothing but bad news!"

She's silent for a moment before suddenly jolting out of his grasp and racing into the forest, Zoro looks at her slowly fading form while gritting his teeth.

"You've got to be kidding me, how did I get roped into taking care of this fucking child?!"

He chases after her clearly pissed off, out of all the things he expected her to do this was one of the stupidest ones. If they got out of this alive he's going to give her a hell of a lecture for doing stupid things like this, but for now he could only sigh and rub his head violently while chasing after her. He continued after her but after a few moments he completely lost track of her which lead to even more frustration on his part, grumbling he activated his Observation Haki once again so to search the island for her. It was just in time seeing as one of the giant creatures descended onto him, he instantly jumped into action unsheathing all three of his blades and distancing himself from it. Once he gained a stable footing and dropped into a defensive stance he waited for the dust to settle so to see what it was that he was up against, after the dust finally settled Zoro quirked an eyebrow at the sight in front of him.

"A dragon huh, this is going to be interesting."

The two of them each other down for a few moments before the dragon shoots a column of flames at him causing him to dodge and charge at the beast,

"Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

Taking advantage of the momentary loss of concentration Zoro shoots forward intent on beheading the beast, but to his surprise none of his blades managed to pierce through his neck or even scratch him at all. He narrows his eyes at this and tries to move out the way as the beast recovered from his strike lashing out at him, he manages to block the strike but it still managed to push him back considerably. He continues to dodge attacks from the dragon while thinking of ways to defeat the beast, but none of them would come into fruition seeing as the dragon stopped attacking him to stare up into the sky. He pauses his own assault waiting to see what would happen, in those few short moments the dragon opened its wings and flew off leaving a slightly confused Zoro. But he simply shrugs his shoulders and sheathes his blades continuing on his way, he continues to search for Asaka for the rest of the day to no avail so he returns to the boat to spend the night. Sighing he lays back onto the boat,

"Where the hell could she have gone?"

_"Maybe she was eaten by one of those dragons?"_

He chokes at that and jolts up,

"Don't joke around like that!"

Ashura chuckles,

_"It is a possibility."_

Zoro sighs at him and stares up into the starry sky,

"Why are there so many weird creatures in this world?"

The shadows around him collect to create a dark figure which he assumed was Ashura,

_"What do you mean? There were weird creatures in your adventure last time too."_

Zoro sighs and sits up,

"But I never remembered running into these ones, if I would I would definitely remember seeing as I would never forget dragons or a man-bull thing."

Ashura shrugs,

_"It might be because you are more connected to this world now with your involvement with me."_

Zoro chuckles at him,

"So the reason I'm in this sit show is because of you?"

Ashura stares blankly at him,

_"Yea."_

Zoro shakes his head with a smile on his face,

"Besides that, do you know anything about this island?"

Ashura looks towards the forest with a contemplative look on his face,

_"Well, you've already met one of the resident species on this island."_

Zoro reaches under his seat to grab some sake,

"One?"

Ashura nods,

_"Yea, there are two species on this island and the dragon is one of them. The second is yet another aerial creature called the griffon."_

Zoro takes a swig of his sake with a quirked eyebrow,

"Griffon? The hell's that?"

Ashura pauses to look towards the forest once again before responding,

_"It is a creature with the body of a lion but the head, wings, and talons of an eagle."_

Zoro blinks once, then twice before groaning and downing the entire bottle of sake,

"God I'm going to hate dealing with it."

Ashura chuckles at him,

_"Just avoid them and you'll be fine."_

Zoro grumbles at him,

"Well if I'm to look for her than avoiding them should be harder than I expect it to be."

Ashura smiles at him,

_"Very true."_

Zoro sighs,

"At this rate I won't get much training done in these two year."

Ashura turns his head in confusion,

_"What are you talking about? You've always been training."_

Zoro raises an eyebrow at him,

"How so?"

Ashura grins at him,

_"Every opponent you fight makes you stronger no matter how strong or weak they are, it teaches you to adapt your strength and to control it to a necessary degree."_

Zoro blankly stares at Ashura before finishing his second bottle of sake before waving him off,

"Well whatever, I'm gonna call it a day."

Ashura quirks an eyebrow at this,

_"Is it really safe to just sleep here?"_

Zoro shrugs his shoulders already getting ready to sleep,

"Who knows, we'll have to wait and see."

With that Zoro went to sleep leaving a shadowy Ashura staring off into the forest,

_"I fear two years may not be enough my friend."_

Finally Ashura dissipates his form leaving Zoro sleeping on the boat alone.

~The Next Morning~

He stares up at the sky in annoyance knowing exactly what he had to do today, getting up he hops off the boat and once again heads into the forest. He would lazily walk through the forest without paying much mind to his surroundings until he sensed something moving near him, he unsheathes all three of his blades ready to take on whatever that may come out of the forest. He stands there for a few moments waiting but with nothing coming for him, he grew impatient and walk towards the area where he had sensed the creature. Though to his surprise he found nothing there at all,

"I swear there was something there."

He sighs and sheathes his blades and continues on his way through the forest, after minutes of walking he finally makes it through the forest to find a mountain. He stands there staring at the mountain for a few moments before sighing and starting to make his way up it,

_"Let's find something to kill already!"_

He groans at this,

_"Don't groan at me, you that you also want to kill something!"_

He sighed knowing that Volron was right,

"Well that still doesn't change the fact that I'm not here to kill anything, I'm just here to find Asaka and get off this island."

Volron snorts,

_"Killjoy!"_

He groans in annoyance at him,

"Leave me alone."

Volron huffs but stays silent as Zoro climbs the mountain, this task wasn't grueling or difficult just tedious as he focused entirely on not falling. After what felt like an hour he finally found a spot on the mountain that where he could rest, it was a cave on the side of the mountain. He climbs up and hops into the cave with a sigh, after resting for a few moments he finally decides to look into the cave to see what he could find. But peering inside the dark cave proved to be difficult seeing as it was almost completely pitch black, he sighs and takes one of his blades out igniting a flame on the tip and using it as a lantern. What he didn't expect once the flame was lit was to come face to to face with a griffon,

"The fuck!"

Zoro jumped back unsheathing his other two blades and getting ready to fight the beast, the griffon simply stared at him oddly not making any moves at all. Zoro took this as a sign that the griffon wasn't an especially aggressive creature and sheathed his two blades, he stares at the griffon for a few more seconds before walking past it deeper into the cave. He spares a glance to see that the griffon was following him as he walked deeper into the cave, he mostly ignores this and continues on his way curious to see what he would be able to find deeper into the cave. After a few moments of walking while being followed by a quiet large and curious griffon he finally comes upon a large cavernous area that was filled with gold, he quirks an eyebrow at this and mutters,

"Nami would have loved this."

He looks around to see what he could find, his gaze finally lands upon two giant mounds within the mountain of gold. Narrowing his eyes he heads down to investigate what those two mounds were, once he reaches them he notices that the griffon had stopped following him. He looks back to find that the griffon didn't enter the cavernous area at all, it seemed to be on edge seeing as its docile appearance was no turned more hostile and its body seemed ready to attack. He shrugged his shoulders and returned back to his investigation of the two giant mounds, he pushes some of the gold out of the way to only find more gold. He narrowed his eyes and continued removing the gold until he freezes when he discovers what was underneath the gigantic mound of gold, what was creating this gigantic mountain of gold was the fact that there were two giant dragons sleeping under it and he was face to face with one of them. Slowly he stopped and tried to back away from the creature hoping not to awaken it but it was too late seeing as the sudden shift of gold had shaken the dragon from its slumber, he backs away as the dragon slowly lifted itself up from the gold to glare at him. It opened its mouth to shoot a column of fire but Zoro was saved by the griffon that swooped in to grab him and fly away, but the dragon didn't seem happy about this as it also opened its giant wings and started chasing after them. Now that it wasn't covered by any gold Zoro could see that it was humongous barely any smaller than the Leviathan, he gulps as he crawls out of the griffons talons and gets onto its back. He stares as the dragon chases them through the cave thinking of what to do, not entirely sure he does the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to a giant beast chasing him.

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

The bolt of fire slammed into the dragon side and seemed to make it slow down for a second before it became enraged and started to speed up towards them, Zoro grumbles,

"Yo griffon you better hurry up a bit or we'll be dragon chow."

It squawked in response and started to speed up, but no matter how fast it went the dragon was still catching up to them. Once it was close enough the dragon opened its mouth to shoot a column of flames at them, not entirely sure if it would work but not really having that much of option to not do so Zoro tries to direct the fire away with his blades.

"Hono no Tatsumaki!"

That had somehow managed to direct the flames away from them but still didn't do anything to stop the gigantic dragon that was chasing him, he narrowed his eyes at it trying to think of a way to either shake it off or to defeat it but was mostly coming up dry. He shrug his shoulders and started sending bolts of fire that seemed to slow it down earlier towards its wings in hopes of incapacitating it,

"Torai Saiko Kaitai Ryusei!"

This had the desired affect as the dragon roared at him in angry while slowly slowing down, he grins at this and focuses one last one right at its face,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

This one proved to be much larger than the rest as it barreled towards the dragon slamming into its face causing it to give up its chase and land, Zoro chuckles at this and turns around to finally see where the griffon was taking him. He sat silently on the griffon as it brought him to another mountain that was on the island, as it neared it dived towards another cave that was on the mountain. He narrowed his eyes wondering what he would find in this cave after a few moments of blind flying the griffon stopped and landed, he hops off rubbing his eyes and looks around inside the cavern to find what seemed to be a giant nest. He turns around and narrows his eyes at the griffon,

"You aren't going to eat me are you?"

He hears someone chuckling,

"I can assure you human that we did not have him bring you here to be eaten."

He places a hand on the hilt of his blade and looks around for the voice inciting yet another chuckle,

"I am within the nest human."

Zoro narrows his eyes and slowly walks forward and peeks into the nest not exactly sure what he would find inside. What he finds was a batch of baby griffon surrounding a gigantic griffon that seemed to be smiling, if a griffon could smile, at him. Zoro quirks an eyebrow is about to say something but is interrupted when the giant griffon speaks,

"I am Dreadclaw the grand griffon."

Zoro blinks once, then twice before grinning,

"A talking griffon cool."

The griffon chuckles at him,

"So the fact that I'm a griffon isn't what interests you but that I possess the ability of speech?"

Zoro shrugs his shoulders,

"So what do you want with me?"

At that the griffons smile(?) drops a bit,

"I believe that your friend that you've been looking for has been taken by the dragons."

Zoro narrows his eyes at the griffon,

"Elaborate."

The griffon sighs,

"But before that I will tell you the history of this island."

Zoro sighs and sits down staring at him,

"Well I've got all day."

**That's a wrap Zoro has finally left Hell's Gate which in my opinion was pretty well written and is now on the Land of the Flying Beasts, I gave this uncreative name because I wasn't planning on having any people on this island. So that meant it is an undiscovered island that no one has ever been on so no name, but with that I feel kind of odd about this chapter. Maybe because I had an actual idea for it but became sick and forgot about it so I'm kind of expanding on something that I don't remember or just the fact that this has mostly just been Zoro exploring everything without anything exciting to do. Nevertheless I don't think I could really drag the story on this island out that much so it should end within the next chapter, though who knows I might be able to pull something out of my ass and extend the story much longer than I thought I would be able to but who knows. After this I don't really have an idea for where Zoro should head to next, the only thing that I know and is set in stone is that Zoro would eventually have to run in Robin and Satan but besides that I'm kind of stumped for ideas. So if anyone has any ideas just pm them to me cause I'll probably need them in the long run, but on that note I'm planning on Zoro keeping a pet for the rest of the journey (That was what the poll was for) and so far it seems like Zoro would be keeping a dragon (Yay), and I already have an idea of how to get one seeing as this little island does house dragons. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	33. A Fiery Boom

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Zoro sat there completely bored while having a staring contest with one of the baby griffons, he had tried to listen to the griffons story but after a bit it got too boring for him and he spaced out somehow ending up in this staring contest. He hears a sigh and looks up,

"Did you hear a single word I said?"

Zoro leans back and stares at him,

"Nope."

The giant griffon sighs,

"I'll simplify it for, we the griffons have had a millennia long feud with the dragons. So if we were to storm the dragon cave in search for your friend it would be like declaring all-out war against them right there."

Zoro cracks his neck,

"Ok, so?"

The giant griffon sighed and moved its head right in front of Zoro,

"I can't risk all out war against the dragons, there would be too many casualties on my side."

He quirks an eyebrow at the griffon before laying on his back and sighing,

"I never said to have all-out war, I simply said help me find my friend. If the dragons were to come I'll deal with them."

The griffon sighs at him,

"Its not that simple."

Zoro stands up and dusts himself off heading towards the exit,

"In the time that we're talking they may be deciding how to eat her so make up your mind."

He walks out leaving the giant griffon behind with an even larger headache,

"This isn't going to end up the way I want it to."

He grumbles and slowly makes his way to the exit where Zoro was, he sighs as he looks down to see Zoro standing with his hands on his hi[s staring at the other mountain.

"What is your name anyway human?"

Zoro grins and looks up at him,

"Names Roronoa Zoro."

The griffon opens his wings shaking them a bit before responding,

"Then Roronoa Zoro, I Dreadclaw the grand griffon shall lend you my aid for your mission. If we do run into any dragons then you will have to deal with the situation."

Zoro grins at him and turns back towards the mountains,

"I've been looking for a rematch against that giant dragon anyway."

Dreadclaw shakes his head in amusement,

"So how are we going to do this?"

Zoro shrugs his shoulders,

"Rush in and improvise."

Dreadclaw looks at him,

"You're kidding?"

Zoro chuckles,

"Nope."

Dreadclaw sighs,

"Well get on and let's get this over with."

Zoro chuckles while getting on him,

"Now you're getting it."

Dreadclaw grumbles and takes off towards the dragon mountain with Zoro on his back, Zoro was intent on killing a dragon and taking Asaka off this island. Even though he hadn't seen Asaka in the past two days and he could only hoping that the dragons haven't eaten her yet, he leans back on Dreadclaws back and relaxes knowing that he would have to fight many beasts soon enough.

"We're going to arrive soon, this would be a great time to put together any type of plan you may or may not have."

Zoro chuckles at him and sits up staring at the cave that he was just about to enter,

"Just focus on not dying."

He could feel Dreadclaw grumbling beneath him, he ignores this and unsheathes his blades ready to take on whatever enemy that was to emerge from within the cave. They were in the clear for now seeing as Dreadclaw was a fast and silent flyer so their presence had yet to be discovered but that would soon change seeing as they were about to enter the giant cavernous area that Zoro had entered previously. They enter and Zoro quickly scans the surrounding area in search of the dragon that had chased him out last time, it slowly emerged from the mountain of gold and glared at them.

"You're up!"

Zoro chuckles at this and sprints off Dreadclaw jumping towards the dragon,

"You don't have to tell me!"

He turns his attention back towards the emerging dragon bringing his blades for an overhead strike, the attack lands but once again fails to pierce through its scales. He growls at this and quickly moves out of the way of an attack, he studies the beast while moving before charging back in for another attack,

"Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!"

He brought the strike right onto the beast eye, to his immense pleasure the attack went through tearing into the beast face causing it to roar in anger and back away from him. Zoro takes this opportunity to try goad it into attacking him,

"Is that all you've got?! For a dragon you're pretty weak!"

The dragon rears its head towards him and opens his mouth to shoot a column of flames at him, Zoro avoids the strike and strikes once more,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

He aimed the attack on the exact same spot before transforming his tattoo into wings and shoot past the beast in search of Asaka, while doing so he failed to notice the second dragon emerging from the mountain of gold. It suddenly shot up surprising Zoro but it wasn't able to attack Zoro seeing as Dreadclaw flew in slamming into the second dragon,

"Thanks!"

He flies past the second dragon and deeper into the dragons cavern hoping to find Asaka and escaping quickly, as he flew through the dragons territory he ran into more and more dragons. Though not as large as the two to begin with they were still fairly large, though he mostly ignored and sped past them a few of them caught up to him causing him to have to strike them down.

"So many of these bastards, Jinsoku!"

With his speed increased ten-fold allowing him to speed past almost every dragon that came out to greet him, after a few moments of searching he finally discovers something as one of the tunnels was giving off a sound that sounded vaguely human. Gambling on that he races down the tunnel in search for Asaka, this gamble paid off as the moment he reached the end of the tunnel he found himself in another giant cavern with Asaka chained up on the wall of this cavern. He quickly races to her and cuts the chains off slinging her over his shoulder, he turns back to leave but the moment he reached a crossroad he paused clearly having forgotten the way that he had used to enter. Growling he yells out,

"Get out Dreadclaw! I'm making my own way out!"

With that he flies up and races towards the ceiling of the cavern he was in,

"Hono no Tatsumaki!"

The spiral of flames drill through the rock face but wasn't enough to break through the mountain completely leaving Zoro still within it, he growls and this time aims for the side of the mountain instead of the top.

"Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!"

This spiral much larger than the last one sported a black flame instead of the usual orange one and instantly ate away at the wall of the mountain tearing right through it giving Zoro an exit. Seeing this he quickly races out heading towards the griffons lair, though he was trying to think of why they would keep her chained up anyway seeing as she should only be food for them. Not wanting to bother racking his brains for an answer he asks her,

"Hey, Asaka why and how did they get you chained up there?"

All he hears is mumbled sounds, he turns around to see that she was still gagged glaring at him. He chuckles and takes the gag off her,

"Took you long enough!"

He rolls his eyes,

"Well how did you get chained up by dragon?"

She takes a deep breath and rubbed her wrists,

"It wasn't the dragons, there was someone else on the island."

He doesn't look back at her but he's contemplating this,

"Why would they capture you?"

She shakes her head,

"No idea, all I heard when I woke up was something about strong souls and such."

Zoro furrows his brow obviously remember something like that being said about her when he was fighting Pallas, he shakes his head removing the thought from his mind and finally touches down in the griffons lair. He sits down and waits for Dreadclaws return as Asaka paces, after a few moments Dreadclaw finally returns sporting a few new wounds.

"You alright?"

Dreadclaw shakes his wings a bit before settling down with a huff,

"A few scratches here and there won't kill me."

Zoro chuckles at him before growing serious,

"So apparently there's someone pulling the strings from behind the scenes."

Dreadclaw narrows his eyes,

"What do you mean?"

Asaka speaks up this time,

"There was a guy there that was controlling the dragons!"

They look at her in disbelief,

"Someone is controlling the dragons? Unbelievable!"

Zoro shrugs and leans back obviously not interested,

"So what if someone is controlling them? It's not our problem, they'll have to deal with it themselves somehow."

They remain silent as Asaka stalks over to him and kicks him, causing him to flip over,

"The hell?!"

She yells at him,

"There are people that need our help and you just want to leave?!"

He rolls his eyes at her,

"Tch, of course. This isn't our problem there's not need to get involved."

She scoffs and turns away from him,

"What kind of person are you?!"

Growling he gets up and starts walking away leaving her alone,

"Where are you going?! This isn't over yet!"

He stops and turns around glaring harshly at her causing her to freeze,

"I didn't want to take you off your island for this exact reason. You meddle in things that you have no need to meddle in, you're simply wasting my time and energy with you annoying sense of justice and good. I shouldn't have taken you off that island at this rate you'll end up dead due to your own naivety."

With that Zoro storms off leaving her alone with Dreadclaw,

"He's right you know."

She snaps her head towards Dreadclaw,

"You guys don't need to help here, this has nothing to do with either of you and I wouldn't hold it against you guys if you were to leave."

She looks at him crestfallen,

"B-But.."

Dreadclaw shakes his head and closes his eyes hoping to get some rest after battling the dragons,

"Though he is also right about you naivety, you may believe that it is good and just while it may be but you are simply bringing more unnecessary trouble into your life."

With that Dreadclaw falls asleep leaving Asaka alone with her thoughts, she sat there conflicted over what to do seeing as she wasn't strong enough to do anything on her own and Zoro seemed to be pissed at her. She sighs and leans back completely lost on what to do,

"Maybe he is right, I never should have left the island."

She turns over closing her eyes hoping to rid herself of these negative thoughts.

~With Zoro~

He had left the lair of the griffons and was slowly descending the mountain in search of something to vent his frustrations on, he pauses for a moment to look and see that the griffon that had helped him escape the dragons the first time following him. He narrows his eyes obviously not amused,

"Why are you following me?"

It only squawks in response before speeding up to follow him, he grumbles and ignores this continuing to descend the mountain. Finally reaching the bottom he stretches a bit before taking off into the forest in search of something to distract him,

"Yo Ashura where have you guys been?"

It takes a moment but he finally responds,

_"You don't seriously believe that you're the only thing interesting that I pay attention to do you?"_

Zoro shrugs his shoulders,

"Who knows, you barely ever tell me anything about you anyway."

Ashura chuckles,

_"Fair enough."_

Zoro continues on his way becoming silent for a few moments before speaking up again,

"Do you know anything about the guy that Asaka was talking about?"

Ashura sighs,

_"You barely got any information about him so I don't really have anything I can go on. Though I thought you said this wasn't your problem so you weren't going to get involved in this?"_

Zoro grumbles as the griffon brushes up against him, he pushes it away and continues on his way through the forest,

"Yea I'm not going to get involved but this is the second time I had to deal with Asaka getting captured and talk of her strong soul or whatever, if I'm going to keep track of her I need to know who's hunting her and what she has that they want. I'm not going to hunt them down but it never hurts to know what I may have to go against as some point."

Ashura chuckles,

_"True enough, but with the limited amount of information that we posses I can not help you in this case."_

Zoro sighs,

"Well it was worth a shot."

He continues walking aimlessly around the forest as the griffon rubs up against him in an odd manner,

"Will you cut it out!"

It only squawks in response before continuing what it was doing, Zoro stands there trying to reign in his annoyance before taking a deep breath and speeding up in hopes of shaking the griffon off. This would continue for a while before Zoro had enough and started sprinting away from it, this wouldn't work as the griffon was much faster than him easily catching up to him without much difficulty. Finally after a while Zoro stops and collapses in defeat letting the griffon freely rub up against him, he sighs and looks up at the sky,

"Can I really deal with this for another year and a bit?"

He is shaken from these thoughts when he senses something else within the forest quickly racing towards him, quickly getting up he unsheathes his blades ready to take on whatever would appear from the forest. To his amusement it seemed to be the dragon he had faced on the first day, grinning he doesn't give it time to think before racing towards it,

"Tamashi no Fujikome! Jinsoku!"

With his speed increased drastically allowing him to catch the dragon completely by surprise, he grins maniacally as he strikes the beast,

"Ashura Hakai!"

This time he coated all his blades in Haki and Demon Flames, this boosted the strength of the blade enough so that it sliced through the dragons head easily splitting it in half. He grins at this but had to wonder why the dragon was out here to begin with, but he couldn't delve deeper into his thoughts as a giant explosion rocked the entire island. He instantly snaps his head towards the direction of the explosion, he grows anxious as he notices that the explosion seems to have originated from the griffons lair. He takes off towards the lair,

"Griffon!"

The griffon that was following races forward and he jumps onto it as they take off towards the griffons lair, after a few anxious moments of flying as they both stare at shock at the devastation that riddled the griffons lair. Quickly they land within the debris and start searching,

"ASAKA! ASAKA!"

He knew that this would do little in his search but he had to try, after a few moments of flipping debris and searching he loses track of the griffon. Though his mind was more focused on other things, after heading deeper into the destroyed lair he finally hears voices. He quickly hides himself behind some debris and tries to pinpoint where the voice was coming from,

"You foolish creatures, did you think that you could attack my minions and not face any consequences for it? For your moronic actions I have demolished all of your brethren, hahaha!"

Zoro narrows his eyes and places a hand on the hilt of his blades preparing himself to attack, he finally spots them and sees a injured Dreadclaw drenched in blood glaring at the cloaked man.

"I will kill you!"

The man only laughs at him,

"How? You're injured and buried beneath a literal mountain, you'll be lucky even move your wings after the damage that it sustained! Even if you did try I'll just have these dragons kill you before you could even get out!"

Zoro growls at this and slowly sneaks forward hoping to catch a better glimpse at the situation, finally after a bit he gets close enough to see that Dreadclaw was surrounded by dragons of varying size and the cloaked man was standing right in front of him waving around a staff as he laughed at him. Zoro crouches and ready's himself for a really stupid idea, he takes a deep breath and exhales, at the exhale he instantly shoots forward charging straight at the cloaked man hoping to incapacitate him right there. The man seems to have not noticed Zoro as he swiftly approached him,

"Ashura no Kohai!"

The heavy blow slams into the man causing him fly into the rubble crumble under the strike, Zoro breathes a sigh of relief before turning towards the multiple dragons that were all barring their fangs at him.

"You alright?"

Dreadclaw pants a bit but responds,

"Nothing a bit of sleep won't solve."

He says this but in the condition he was in Zoro wasn't sure if he would survive, with that he glares at the dragons,

"Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

With the new addition of limbs he quickly races towards the smaller dragons in hope of cutting them down first to shave off the number,

"Ashura: Ichibugin!"

To his annoyance the strike didn't kill all of the smaller dragons only a few of them,

"Tch, tough bastards."

Jumping back to avoid the strikes from the bigger dragons that took it as an opportunity to attack him he readies another attack,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

The bolt of now black fire pierces straight through the claw of the dragon that had tried to attack him causing it to roar in pain, Zoro grins at this and charges straight at it intent on lopping its head right off. He succeeds as the dragon was too distracted to stop his strike leading to its downfall, the other dragons roar in outrage and simultaneously charge at him. Zoro didn't expected this but was unfazed by the onslaught of dragons coming at him,

"Kokujo O: Tatsumaki!"

The attack sends most of the dragons reeling back while a few foolish ones charge through thinking that they would leave unharmed, they were wrong as the strike slammed into them riddling their entire body with cuts and slashes. They roar in pain as Zoro quickly rushes at them and finishing them off, he grins as he watches the other dragons snarl at him but are afraid to approach him. He brings his blade up to show the dragons the blood of their brethren slowly dripping off Zoro's blade in hopes that this would enrage them enough for them to recklessly charge at him again. To his displeasure it only incited a few more angry roars from them as they finally understood just how dangerous Zoro was and kept away from him, he frowns for a moment before grinning at them,

"If you guys aren't going to come to me then I'm going to go to you!"

He squats down focusing all the power into his legs causing a few cracks to appear on the floor before releasing all the tension instantly shooting forward surprising them all, the grin that adorned his face was getting more deranged by the second as the amount of blood that surrounded him excited him greatly. He quickly cuts down the closest dragon to him while whistling a happy tune, a few of the smaller dragons seeing this slowly back away before taking off in hopes of escaping his wrath. Zoro notices this and pauses, grinning in their direction,

"Who said you could leave? Torai Saiko Kaitai Ryusei!"

The trio of flaming bolts shoot towards them piercing the head of one of the dragons, the wing of another, and the torso of the last one inciting two roars of pain along with a loud thump as the first dragons body falls out of the sky slamming into the ground. He clicks his tongue as he had only managed to take down three of the countless dragons that were running away, but he doesn't the time to rest as a claw appears through the smoke hoping to kill him. He brings his blades up with a maddened grin blocking the strike,

"Now that's more like it!"

He managed to block the strike but the power behind was still enough to force him back as he hops to steady himself from the it, once steadied he puts himself into a defensive stance searching for the beast that had tried to strike him down. After a few moments of searching around the smoke parts to reveal one of the dragons that he had discovered in the mountain of gold, he narrows his eyes at the unbelievable size of it as the dragon towered over him. He spares a glance to see if the dragon had noticed Dreadclaw buried beneath a pile of rubble, to his luck it didn't seem to have noticed Dreadclaw who was slowly dragging his injured body out of the rubble. Turning back to face his opponent he steels himself knowing that this battle would be much more difficult from the cannon-fodder dragon that he had previously fought. Even with that thought he couldn't keep the grin off his face as he studied the dragon in hopes of finding a way to defeat it, he notices that the dragon had a scar adorning the right side of its neck, not really sure if it would work or not he dove right into the battle intent on testing out if that scar was a weak point or not. He shoots forward dodging the giant column of fire that the dragon shot at him and sims straight for the scar on its neck,

"Ashura Hakai!"

His attack is stopped as the dragons tail suddenly shoots forward slamming into his torso and sending him flying back, Zoro coughs up a bit of blood and gets up grinning at the dragon.

"So you are protecting that spot, thanks for letting me know that it's a weak point."

The dragon quickly advances towards him having enough of Zoro's constant rambling, Zoro's grin drops instead adopting a more serious expression as he actually focuses on defeating the opponent that is in front of him.

"Jinsoku!"

His speed rapidly increases as he's determined to end this battle quickly, he charges forward dodging the swipes from the dragon and jumping over its tail which was ready to strike him again. But once he was in the air he was unable to move for a few brief seconds which was enough time for the dragon to launch its next attack, it opened its mouth showing Zoro the tormentingly hot flames that were about to be blasted at him. Zoro only a had a split-second to act as the flames shot out towards him,

"Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!"

He slammed his black flames against the dragons powerful flames and for a few moments the flames battle each other equally to see which would come out on top, but not used to keeping up the flames for so long Zoro was slowly faltering causing him to be pushed back as the dragon slowly advanced. He could feel the heat of its flames slowly getting to him as he was sweating profoundly, he could feel the flames forcefully pushing him back as he was slowly losing the battle. He grits his teeth in frustration and falters even more, his eyes dart around panicking as he searches for a way to escape him situation. He doesn't find a way to escape his predicament but finds Asaka standing behind Dreadclaw, who had managed to pull himself out of the rubble, with a worried expression as they watched him battle the gigantic dragon. He pauses for a moment studying her worried face before smiling softly and closing his eyes, he relaxes for a split-second before his eyes suddenly open changing from it his usual brown eyes to the red and black color that he has when he merges with Decimation. His body filled with renewed energy as his eyes shown with a dark determination,

"KAMI NO HONO TATSUMAKI!"

The once dying black flames that Zoro was emitting from his blade gained new life as the flames burst with energy, the battle for between the flames is reignited as Zoro focuses everything on his blades putting everything behind it he pushes forward. In that moment his blade breaks through the dragons flame giving him a clear path towards the wound on its neck, without thinking he charges the flames not even once faltering as he slammed the attack right into the side of the dragons neck. This caused it to roar in pain but Zoro was done yet as he continued to push forth his flames still burning as powerful as the sun, with all the power he could muster in that moment he roars at the dragon as he pierces through the side of the dragons neck. Finally getting through he rockets off tumbling to the side as he no longer had anything to hold onto, he grunts as he slams and rolls into the rubble before finally stopping behind the dragon. He pants trying to regain his breath as he forces himself to stand up and walk over to the screaming dragon on the ground, he stand over its head with a blood soaked Shusui in his hands. He raises his blade to finish it off but when he tries to bring it down he finds that he can't move his blade, he puts more power into it hoping that it would already cut down the beast but it still wouldn't move. He looks up to see a black chain wrapped around his blade.

"The fu-?!"

He coughs up blood as another chain slams into his side causing him to stumble backwards and collapse, his eyes were slowly losing its red and black hue as his eyes darted around in search of his assailant. He hears clapping as a clocked figure that he had struck down earlier emerges from the shadows,

"I must say you are much stronger than I had given you credit for, you even managed to shatter my demon general armor and for that I must applaud you."

Through his bloody teeth Zoro chokes out,

"Who the hell are you?!"

The figure chuckles at him,

"That does not matter, but I must thank you. Everything you've done is truly helping me, first with the Tomb of Resurrection and now the soul of one of the two strongest dragons to ever exists. How could I ever thank you?"

Zoro glares at the figure,

"So you were the one who took it."

The figure only smiles at him as he walks over to the dragon and places his purple glowing hand on its head, Zoro could only watch in horror as the soul of the dragon which he had just defeat was forcefully extracted from its body. After doing so the man opened his clock and shoved the soul inside before chuckling in amusement as the dragons body started to dissolve into white butterflies, Zoro watch this all in fascination and curiosity before shaking his head so to bring himself back to the present, gritting his teeth he forces his body to stand up and face the man. The cloaked man notices this and whistles,

"Once again you amaze me, such incredible willpower. I must just take you along so that I can experiment on you."

Zoro's eyes darken as he hears this, the figure that stood before him was a lunatic that tortured and experimented on anyone he wished to. If he were to live any longer it would be dangerous for the rest of the world, but in his current state there would be little that he could do against him.

_"Tch, you owe me mortal."_

He could only pause for a second before he loses consciousness but the others didn't know this as Zoro's head drooped down, the cloaked figure frowns at this,

"Guess he wasn't that strong then."

Unbeknownst to them Zoro grinned at this before bringing his head up to give him crazed grin,

_"He might not be that strong, but you're a weak-willed coward that's about to get his jaw stomped out!"_

The cloaked figure pauses for a moment before studying Zoro,

"You are no longer that man."

Volron in Zoro's body chuckles,

_"Ding ding ding we got a winner everyone!"_

The figure narrows his eyes at him,

"What are you?"

Volron chuckles,

_"Don't worry about it, you won't be alive long enough to do something with that information."_

With that Volron shoots forward to attack the man, as Asaka and Dreadclaw watch in horror at the brutal fight that was about to commence.

**That's a wrap you guys have no idea how happy I am to finish this chapter, this sin't my favorite chapter but I've had this just holed up in my doc manager for like the past two weeks unable to find the motivation to finish it. I'm sorry that all the updates are no longer released on the same schedule as it used to be but I've recently been lacking both the time and motivation to work on this which is pretty sad but I shall not give up on this. I started this and I will see it through to the end, it might just take longer than I had anticipated to do so seeing as everything seems a bit erratic and my lack of time due to trying to enjoy life and school weighing on my mind. This is the end of the little spat of the island of the flying beasts something I had an idea for for but couldn't think of a better way to incorporate it into the story, I just really wanted Zoro to have a pet dragon though I might also have the griffon that follows him be his pet too(I kind of grew attached to it) who knows. Next chapter will be a bit of an aftermath along with Zoro and Asaka heading towards their next island. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thank you.**


	34. A Somewhat Happy Surprise

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

"You're kidding me."

She nervously laughs,

"Nope."

He sighs at her,

"No way."

She pouts at him,

"Why not?"

He scoffs at her,

"You're a handful as it is already, I'm not taking it to."

He tries to walk away but she stops him,

"Hey for your information IT has a name!"

He narrows his eyes at her and pushes past her to try find a quiet place to nap, she huffs at him and rubs the head of the griffon that had followed Zoro around,

"Don't worry Warpclaw I'll convince him to take you along with us."

It squawks in response as Asaka brainstorms ways to do it, Zoro grumbles as he searches for a place to rest his weary body.

"What the hell did you do?"

Volron scoffs,

_"I helped you, a thank you would be great you know."_

Zoro scoffs at him,

"Helped? You just butchered the guy and we still don't know who he was and what he was doing."

Volron growls under his breath before disappearing,

_"Ungrateful mortal."_

Zoro sighs, he was never going to thank that detestable demon but he was right, if he hadn't intervened he might very well not be alive and that just pissed him off. He thought he had gotten stronger but nothing seems to have changed he was still far from being able to stop a Marine Admiral and so far he's had his ass saved by Volron more times then he would have liked to. Shaking his head so to rid himself of those thoughts he recounts what had happened, he had fallen unconscious and ended up in a very odd location which he had never been before and before he could investigate he was ripped out of there. Once he awoke he is met with the horrific sight of a completely butchered man, his body was torn to shreds and he was still somehow alive gasping in pain with his one remaining bloody eye. Though he was a very sadistic man himself such a sight was slowly pushing the limits of what he would condone, he had quickly put the man out of his misery as an existence with such a mangled body would be a pitiful and painful one. After doing so he could only evaluate the damage that had come from the battle that had ensued after he fell unconscious, though the area had already been devastated by the cloaked man, which Zoro still doesn't know who, why he was there, and what his purpose was. He sighs once again feeling his aching body get the best of him causing him to pause in his trek, he grimaces as he coughs up a bit of blood onto the ground this was one of the worst beatings he's received in a while. Grumbling he wipes the blood from his mouth and continues towards the coast looking for the boat that he had used to reached the island, after many minutes of walking he finally finds it,

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

He hears Ashura chortle,

_"You have some of the worst luck I have ever seen, hahaha."_

He growls at Ashura,

"Piss off, I'm not in the mood."

Before Ashura could say anything a voice emerges from the forest,

"Neh Zoro! ZORO!"

Zoro rubs the bridges of his nose anticipating the incoming headache,

"What?!"

Asaka isn't deterred as her smile never once falters,

"I'm here to convin- hey isn't that our boat?"

Zoro rubs his face in frustration and nods, he notices Asaka pause for a moment before her smile grows even wider,

"How did it get destroyed?"

He glares at her but still answers,

"Probably the blast from the mountain rocketed some rubble here smashing into the boat."

She takes a step closer so to try make him a bit uncomfortable seeing as the distance between them was almost non-existent,

"Doesn't that mean we no longer have a way to get of this island?"

He could see her smile growing wider by the second,

"Yea..."

Before she could say anything a squawk is heard from the forest and Warpclaw emerges running like a puppy that just found a bone, Zoro looks at it then at Asaka who was smiling at him.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

She laughs at him and spins in a circle,

"Every single second!"

He groans and slowly tries to slink away but before he could anywhere Asaka grabs his shoulder and brings her face uncomfortably close to his face with a very devious and disgusting grin on her face,

"So how are we going to get off the island?"

His glare deepens but seems to have no effect on her seeing as she only inches closer, his face adopts a scowl and he growls at her,

"You know the only options left so there is no need for me to say it."

This doesn't seem to be enough as Asaka doesn't relent,

"I know, but I want to hear you say it!"

He glares at her and sighs angrily,

"Alright, jeez it can come with us."

She shakes her head,

"Say it properly."

He growls at her,

"Warpclaw can come along with us, there you happy?"

She jumps back her face back to normal with a light blush accompanied with boisterous laughter,

"You hear that Warpclaw! You can join us!"

He squawks in response and Asaka runs towards him throwing herself at him giving him a deep hug, Zoro rolls his eyes at this and starts walking back into the forest. Once he is out of sight Asaka breaths a sigh of relief,

"Thank god he didn't notice this."

She brings out a bag that she was hiding behind her back, Warpclaw squawks obviously confused and starts sniffing at the bag that she brought out. She grins at him,

"Wonder how he'll react to this, doubt he would be happy."

Warpclaw squawks in response and rubs his head against her causing yet another round of laughter, while this was happening Zoro was slowly making his way towards the wreak of a mountain that used to be the griffons lair. He had many minutes of silent walking as he enjoyed the natural scenery and sound of nature before he finally broke through the forest entering the broken down mountain. Climbs up looking around for Dreadclaw hoping to converse with the grand griffon one last time before he departs from the island, finding him would prove to be challenge as Dreadclaw was one of the biggest griffons on the island and stumbled around while covered in poorly wrapped bandages.

"Oy Dreadclaw!"

Dreadclaw turns his head tiredly towards him,

"Ahh Zoro, how are you doing?"

Zoro chuckles and sits down with his back on a fallen rock,

"As you can see not much better than you."

They both chortle before smiling and growing silent, After a few moments Zoro's face becomes more serious,

"So hows the situation here?"

Dreadclaw sighs at him,

"Not good, with the initial explosion the amount of rubble that collapsed upon my brethren had killed many of them. We have yet to even find all of my kind that may still be trapped beneath the literal mountain of rocks and boulders."

Zoro could only look down grimly,

"That is unfortunate, but that is not all I'm here for."

Dreadclaw looks at him oddly but stays silent waiting for Zoro to continue,

"I shall be departing from the island soon enough."

Dreadclaw nods,

"That was to be expected."

Zoro grumbles a bit and cracks his back,

"Though the boat I have arrived here with was destroyed by the explosion, Asaka seems determined to take Warpclaw along with us."

Dreadclaw narrows his eyes at him,

"Who is this Warpclaw you speak of?"

Zoro stands up and dusts himself off,

"It's the griffon that had followed me through the island, after I woke up she told me that she had named it seeing as she found it annoying to simply call it griffon."

Dreadclaw gives off a light chuckle,

"She is quite a free-spirit isn't she?"

Zoro grumbles at this,

"Too much of one if you ask me, it's like trying to stop an ocean current with your bare hands. You may be determined but it will never stop relentlessly moving."

Dreadclaw smiles a bit before groaning and laying down,

"I will only say take care of him, after this attack the amount of griffons that remain have been trimmed down greatly I would hate for another one to be lost simply because you may be incapable of taking care of such a majestic creature."

Zoro snorts,

"Majestic my ass."

Dreadclaw chuckles closing his eyes,

"But do take care of him, all of my brethren are important to me."

Zoro starts walking away,

"Though I have one final question."

Dreadclaw opens one eyes to look at him,

"What is is my friend?"

Zoro turns around to look at him,

"Why do you possess the ability of speech but he doesn't?"

Dreadclaw smiles and closes his eyes,

"I am a very ancient being, Warpclaw as you call him is still quite young. He will eventually gain the ability to understand and speak like a human, though the time may be a long way to go he will eventually gain that ability."

Zoro nods and turns around leaving Dreadclaw alone there to rest as he searched for a place to camp out himself seeing as the sun was going down, he looks towards the coast before shaking his head and continuing on his way.

"She'll find a way to get through the night herself."

With that he disappears within the forest.

~The Next Morning~

Asaka yawn as she wakes up atop Warpclaw, she rubs his head and gets up stretching,

"Morning buddy you ready to go?"

It lazily squawks in response, Asaka looks around before frowning,

"Where did he go?"

After a few more seconds of searching she sighs and calls for Warpclaw,

"Come on lets head back to the griffons lair and ask Dreadclaw if he's seen Zoro."

He squawks and bounds towards her stopping so that she could get on him before taking off towards the lair, after a few moments of flying while enjoying the fresh morning wind on her face they land. She immediately hopes off Warpclaw and heads towards Dreadclaw.

"Dreadclaw!"

He pops open an eye lazily to look at her,

"Why hello little miss."

She smiles at him,

"Have you seen Zoro? Haven't seen him since yesterday when he let Warpclaw come along us."

He narrows his eyes at them,

"I have not seen him since he departed this location last afternoon, I only saw him disappear into the forest and nothing since."

Asaka furrows her brows before smiling,

"Well thanks anyway."

Dreadclaw lightly chuckles,

"No problem little miss."

With that Asaka and Warpclaw taking off into the forest,

"Where is that idiot?!"

They stumble around for a few minutes before Warpclaw freezes up causing Asaka to pause and look at him,

"What is it?"

He squawks and points his beak towards her left, she quirks an eyebrow and looks in the direction which he had pointed in to find Zoro in a meditative stance with his hands being enveloped by pitch black flames while a pond of blood slowly rotated around his legs. Before she can say anything the flames start climbing up his right arm completely enveloping it from the fingers to the shoulder after a few moments the flames start to settle down leaving a dark spiraling mark on his entire arm similar to the tattoo of his wings on his back. After that settles down Zoro opens his eyes causing all the flames to dissipate and the blood that was pooling around his feet to be absorbed into the ground, he brings his arm up and studies his new mark smiling to himself before standing up causing a few of his joints to pop and crack. He groans at this and quickly stretches his body before finally noticing Asaka and Warpclaw staring at him. He looks at them oddly with a grin on his face,

"What?"

It takes a few seconds but Asaka finally responds,

"The hell was that?!"

He chuckles at her,

"Don't worry about it."

He walks past her feeling somewhat energized after his little meditation session, he looks up enjoying the sunlight before turning around,

"Well it's time to get going."

Asaka looks at him in disbelief,

"Hey, don't ignore me! You still haven't told me what the hell that was!"

Zoro determined not to let her get on his nerves responds,

"Am I obligated to answer your questions?"

She pauses at this and mumbles,

"No."

He grins at her,

"Exactly."

With that he turns around and slowly makes his way towards the griffons lair, Asaka quickly follows sparing a glance once in a while to the new mark that had appeared on his arm. But they arrive at the griffons lair without a single word being exchanged between them making the only sound to appear during the trek to be an occasional squawk from Warpclaw, when they arrive Zoro sees Dreadclaw rallying the griffons together and trying to remove the rubble that covered their destroyed lair.

"Dreadclaw."

He turns towards the voices to see Zoro giving him a small wave,

"Well isn't it nice to see you before you leave."

Zoro chuckles,

"Figured it would be rude to just leave without saying anything, especially if we're taking one of your people along with us."

Dreadclaw nods at him,

"Well along with that I wish to have a word with Warpclaw before you depart."

Zoro nods giving Dreadclaw the indication that it was fine, Zoro walks away dragging Asaka along with him as they look around at the island one last time.

"Where are we heading next?"

Zoro shrugs his shoulders,

"Who know."

She sighs at this,

"Are we seriously going to just wander around from island to island without knowing where we are?"

He chuckles at her,

"Seems so."

They silently watch the griffons work their way through the rubble while waiting for Warpclaw to return, after a few minutes Warpclaw and Dreadclaw return. Asaka immediately pipes up,

"What did you talk about?"

Dreadclaw smiles at her,

"That's a secret."

She pouts at this and grumbles under her breath,

"What's with people and secrets nowadays?"

As quiet as she was Zoro still heard her, he gives a smirk before returning his attention to Warpclaw, he rubs his head inciting a squawk from him.

"You ready to go?"

He nods his head in response and Zoro grins,

"Well let's get to it then, get on Asaka."

With that they both get on Warpclaw making themselves comfortable before Warpclaw opens his wings, but before they take off Zoro has one last thing to say to Dreadclaw,

"This has been an interesting experience to say the least and meeting you was quite fun, do keep yourself safe friend."

Dreadclaw chuckles,

"I should be the one saying that to you."

With that they share a laugh before Warpclaw takes off,

"Bye big griffon!"

Though Asaka's yelling put quite a strain on his ears he stayed silent knowing that she was going to miss them and with that they take off towards their new adventure.

~A Few Moments Later~

It had barely been ten minutes and she was already starting up complaining about how bored she was as Zoro leaned forward and grumbled hoping to tune her out, but every time he got close to tuning her out she would shake him demanding that he entertain her somehow. This was getting on his nerves as it was bad enough that they were stuck on the back of a griffon that only had enough space for the two of them so he couldn't escape when ever she grabbed him, this was going to be a very tedious and nerve striking trip with her. He closes his eyes and gets into a meditative stance hopping that he would at least be able to meditate a bit seeing as it may very well help him calm down and spare him from the onslaught of questions from Asaka, he takes a deep breath before focusing. After a few moments of this he finally tunes out Asaka and enters his subconscious, he once again awakens atop the sea of blood as three figures hover above him.

_"Tch, the bastards here."_

Zoro ignores this and sits up grinning at them,

"This world is a hell of a lot more interesting than I had first imagined."

Decimation grins and floats around him,

"It is isn't it, I can't wait to kill even more monster!"

Zoro chuckles at him before becoming serious and diverting his attention to Ashura,

"Who was that?"

Volron snorts and answers,

_"If you weren't so weak that i had to take over for you, then you would have figured out who he was."_

Zoro gives Volron a blank uninterested look,

"I"m not here to listen to snarky comments from you, now who was that man?"

Ashura gives Zoro a blank looks before sighing,

_"That man, I believe is a servant of Satan."_

Zoro furrows his brows,

"Satan? This is the second times that I've heard someone mention him. Why would his servants be after me? First the hellhounds now it's this fucker, what the hell does the guy want with me anyway?"

Ashura and Volron exchanged blank looks,

_"That is something we can not answer, Satan is a meticulous and cunning man who does things simply for his own enjoyment. What he has in plan most people never discover until they are already deep within his ploy, telling you to be cautious will undoubtedly not be enough seeing as even we are unable to decipher the man ourselves."_

Zoro tiredly lets his head hang,

"Great now I have to deal with that too, at least tell me what I have to expect when we I do come across him."

Volron takes a step forward to get closer to Zoro and gives him the most serious look Zoro has ever seen on his face,

_"Run, there is no way for you to even injure him much less defeat him. Even running might not be enough seeing as his speed greatly outclasses yours, just avoid him at any cost unless you wish to lose your life."_

Zoro narrows his eyes, he's never seen Volron as serious about anything and it was off-putting, he uses one of his hands to push Volron to the side as he walked past him,

"I'll keep that in mind then."

He walks past the three of them gazing at the endless sea of blood, he takes a deep breath before smiling and turning around towards the three of them.

"Let's see how much training I can get done in this time."

He unsheathes his blades as the three demons turn towards him with growing grins on their faces, Volron gives a dark chuckle and sets his hands ablaze,

_"Don't regret this."_

Zoro grins,

"I won't."

Ashura gives a hearty laugh and sticks his hand out where Decimation, who was giving him a cheeky grin, jumped and transformed himself into his bladed form giving Ashura a weapon.

_"Then let us battle my friend."_

Zoro drops his smile and adopts a serious expression as he dives into battle,

"Come at me with all you have or you'll pay the consequence for it."

Volron directs a crazed smile at him,

_"Don't get cocky you filthy mortal!"_

Zoro adopts an annoyed look as Volron charged him, he was confident to a certain degree but he knew that at his current level defeating him wasn't something easily achieved especially without Decimation. He locks his blade against Volron's flaming arm and he deepens his glare at Volron, this serves only to make Volron's grin grow wider,

_"You should be aware of your surroundings less you wished to die a pitiful death."_

Zoro takes a moment to register the words before instantly separating one of his blades to block a strike directed at his back from Ashura, though he had blocked the strike most of the power was still behind it causing his blade to be pushed back slamming into him causing him to be blown away. He takes a moment to regain his footing and put himself in a defensive stance before glaring harshly at the two of them, this only caused Volron give give off a hearty laugh and give Zoro a crazed look,

_"You said to come at you with everything we got, so don't go bitching about it."_

Ashura gives Zoro a light smile,

_"He is correct in that point."_

Zoro cracks his neck before entering another stance,

"Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

Ashura drops his smile while Volron's grin grows crazier by the second,

_"Now that's what I'm talking about!"_

Zoro emerges from his transformation and gives them both a serious look,

"No more messing around, it's time to be pushed to my limit."

Ashura chuckles,

_"Well said my friend."_

They charge at one another and their blades clash giving birth to a supernova of black flames to be expelled from the both of them tearing apart the terrain surrounding them.

~A Few Hours Later~

Zoro jolts awake as his mock-battle with Ashura and Volron concluded with his obvious defeat, he shakes his head as a the battle had given him a severe headache. He forces his eyes closed so to try help it before opening them and looking around to see where he was, he was still atop Warpclaw and they were still flying which caused him to be slightly annoyed before sighing when he heard snoring behind him and a feeling of wetness of his back. He cranes his neck to see that Asaka had fallen asleep on his back and was drooling all over his shirt, he grows a disgusted look as practically his entire back was wet and it was very uncomfortable and something he did not want. Before he could do anything Warpclaw squawks getting Zoro's attention, they were finally nearing an island as Warpclaw started to descend towards what seemed to be an island, Zoro wasn't entirely sure as his eyes still haven't completely adjusted to the dark yet so he could only wait and see. He grabs onto Warpclaw and puts an arm around Asaka so that she wouldn't fall off as they descended, after a few second they finally touched down and after doing so Warpclaw immediately collapsed in exhaustion and falls asleep. Zoro chuckles lightly while rubbing his his head before jumping off his back and carrying Asaka while doing so, he places her against a tree so to let her sleep a bit more comfortably. He notices that she was carrying a bag that he didn't remember her having before but shrugs his shoulders knowing that it was none of his business. After doing so he grumbles and takes off his shirt so he wouldn't have to deal with the dampness and the fact that it was sticking to his skin and tosses it up on one of the tree branches to dry before walking off to explore the island, he didn't sense any threats on this island but it never hurt to be sure. He activated his Observation Haki and searched the vicinity around where Asaka was. There wasn't a single living creature in that area except them and Warpclaw, seeing this he deactivated his Haki and goes searching deeper into the island for anything. He looks up at the sky to see that it was still dark and didn't seem like it was going to get brighter anytime soon, he shrugs and still continues on knowing that without knowledge of the terrain they may very well be left in an undesirable situation.

~The Next Morning~

Asaka awakens to yelling, she rubs her eyes and tries to focus on the sounds only to find a group of people surrounding Warpclaw with weapons. Shaking her light headiness away she immediately rushes forward,

"Stop!"

They look at her oddly and only pause for a few moments before resuming their stance against him, Warpclaw squawks loudly at them but stays where he is.

"Don't hurt him!"

A blond-haired man steps forward to stop Asaka,

"What is this beast?"

Asaka pushes herself off him before responding angrily,

"He's Warpclaw my griffon!"

The man gives her a odd look before smiling,

"So he is no danger to us?"

She nods,

"Unless you attack him or me, he won't be any danger."

This seemed to relax the group as many lowered their weapons and a few even collapsed where they were, this only caused Asaka to be more confused,

"What's going on?"

The blond-haired man answers sitting down himself,

"We've been fighting many odd and unfamiliar beasts the moment we came here and they have been relentlessly chasing us, we're exhausted and on edge especially seeing as some of these beasts seem impossible to kill."

Asaka quirks an eyebrow before disregarding it and rushing forward towards Warpclaw engulfing his head in a hug,

"Are you alright?"

Warpclaw gives a squawk in response prompting her to smile at him,

"Where did he go?"

Warpclaw only gives her a blank look telling her all she needed to know, she sighs at this before noticing his shirt hanging on the tree that she was sleeping on. She walks over to grab it before returning to Warpclaw,

"Should we wait here or should we search for him?"

Warpclaw gives the griffon equivalent of a shrug before laying down and closing his eyes, Asaka sticks her tongue out at him before leaning on him and keeping an eye on the group. The group was composed of eight people, five guys and three girls all who looked completely exhausted as they slowly reconvened. After a bit of talking among themselves the blond man followed by two girls one with orange hair and the other with black hair approached her,

"Sorry about what happened earlier but you must know that our group is a bit on edge after the death of a few of our comrades to such creatures."

Asaka narrows hers eyes before giving them a bright smile,

"Don't worry about it I understand."

The man smiles at her,

"We're here on a mission from our leader to help an allied town that was under attack from unknown beasts, but when we left our ship to scout the creatures emerged and captured our ship. We have been currently unable to retake our ship that posses most of our supplies along with more of our comrades."

Asaka nods,

"That is unfortunate."

The orange-haired speaks up this time,

"It is and we would hate to ask this of you especially after what happened but could you help us out? We really do need our ship back and with the limited people we have here retaking it would prove to be very difficult and costly, we need everyone we can get to retake our ship."

Asaka opens her mouth ready to instantly accept before Zoro came back into her mind causing her smile to drop,

"I'm not very strong so I'm much help, but I have a very strong friend that's somewhere on the island."

The black-haired girl spoke up this time,

"Where is this friend of yours? When we came into this clearing we only saw you."

Asaka rubs the back of her head sheepishly,

"I don't know, we arrived last night and I fell asleep. When I woke up he was gone, I'm guessing that he went to explore the island."

The man rubs his chin contemplating this,

"We may not have the time for him to return, we need to retake the ship soon or the fear the worst for our comrades."

Asaka protests,

"You could really use his help, I've been with him for only a days and I've seen how strong he is. Like the last island we were at he took out an entire colony of dragons and one of these dragons was about the size of a hill!"

The man sighs,

"He does sound like a great help but time is not on our side this time."

Asaka is about to say something but an explosion rocketed the island, the group and Asaka watched as a giant black flame tore through an area on the island. The group only shudder at the display of power while Asaka smiles,

"That must be him!"

They turn towards her,

"That's your friend?!"

She shrugs her shoulders,

"Probably."

After a that they all take out their weapons as they hear monsters screaming and many more smaller explosion follow slowly getting closer to them, the blonde-haired man calls out to his group.

"Everyone! Get ready to fight!"

They all get into stances ready to meet the enemy head on, the explosions stop for a few moments leading to unnerving silence before they hear what sounds to be a tree being uprooted forcefully. They could only watch in fascination as one of the beast that they had struggled against was violently thrown out of the forest while covered in blood,

"What could have done this?!"

This is answered soon enough as they hear a man yelling and a figure jumps out from the forest, he chases after the beast quickly dashing towards it and lopping its head off as the beast started to recover. The man grumbles and shakes the blood off his blade,

"Stupid fucking monsters, can't ever catch a break with them."

The first one to recognize this person was Warpclaw as he squawked dashing forward and tackling him,

"Get off me you oversized bird!"

Asaka recognized this voice and rushed forward too,

"Zoro!"

Zoro looks at Asaka with a glare on his face and pushes Warpclaw off of him and dusts himself off, Asaka stops right in front of him and points a finger accusingly,

"Where did you go?"

Zoro grunts out while sheathing his blades,

"Went to scout the island."

But before Asaka could say anything else another voice breaks through,

"Zoro?"

Zoro looks towards the voice and his eyes widen upon seeing who it was,

"Robin?!"

**That's a wrap this was an interesting chapter to write, it was kind of a rest chapter that didn't really move the plot forward too much but still fulfilled its role in setting up the next part of the story. I finally got Zoro and Robin back together so next chapter would finish up what I started this chapter and have Zoro meeting the revolutionaries which I'm kind of looking forward to simply because I would find it hilarious if Zoro squared up to Dragon, might add it might not who knows but it's an idea. I feel like spacing out each chapter week by week is a lot better since it puts a lot less strain on me and I'm actually able to do other things while working on the fanfic, so that's probably how it's going to be unless something comes up. Though I might not update like the week after next week cause I'm running dry of ideas so I'm kind of stumped, along with exams coming up and my inability to study so yea fun. Still not gonna completely stop me from working on this cause I can't give two shits about my grades anymore, but my parents do so that's kind of annoying. Like I had a few ideas for continuing the story but the week I spend sick completely fried my brain so I forgot a lot of the ideas I came up with, now I'm just scraping everything I can now so bare with me please. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	35. Revolutions Call

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

It was surprising to say the least, he didn't expect to run into any of his crew mates until it was time for them to return to Sabaody. Though this still exactly a great situation seeing as he was tired, completely covered in blood, and there are still monsters roaming around the island hoping to kill him.

"You know them?"

Zoro rubs the back of his head and sighs,

"No just her, we're on the same pirate crew."

Asaka gains an interesting look,

"Ohh!"

He stops her before she can say anything,

"Not the time, we need to get off this island now. There are a ton of troublesome creatures lurking around."

Zoro wipes the blood of his body and walks past her but she doesn't follow him,

"Come on let's go!"

He turns around to see her still standing there hesitating,

"What is it?"

She looks a bit hesitant before she responds,

"They need our help, their ship has been captured and they can't leave without getting it back and their comrades are still on the ship itself."

Zoro stares at her blankly before his face adopts a look of disappointment and annoyance,

"Your naivety will be the death of you! We've talked about this before, this is not our battle we have no need to participate in something that we have don't gain anything from."

Robin walks up to him and puts her hand on his shoulder,

"What happened to you? You seem different."

He looks at her and tiredly sighs,

"The reality of what I have to do is slowly setting in and the disappointment in myself due to the change I am unable to make is causing me insurmountable anger and worry."

Robin looks at him slightly surprised before studying him, he walks off finding himself completely exhausted. None of them stop him as he walks past them and lays down against a tree, glaring at them one last time before closing his eyes to rest. This left Asaka alone with them once again, one of the guys yelled loudly,

"Who the hell does that guy think he is?!"

The blonde-haired man put his hand up to stop him,

"He is right he has no obligation to do this and labeling him a bad guy simply because he doesn't wish to help us is just ignorant."

Asaka sighs,

"I'm sorry for how he is, I don't know why he's always like this but he is."

The blonde-haired rubs the back of his head and smiles sheepishly,

"Don't worry about it I understand where he's coming from. Also I don't think we've been fully introduced, my names Sabo, the orange-haired girl is Koala, and she's Robin as your friend already mentioned."

Asaka gives them a weak smile,

"Nice to meet you all my names Asaka, I've been traveling with him for about a week ever since he saved my village from an army of monsters."

The now named Sabo gives her a wide smile,

"Nice to meet you Asaka, introductions aside we still have the issue of our captured ship."

Asaka sighs after hearing this,

"I'm sorry but aside from Warpclaw I can't really do much to help you guys, I've mostly been relying on Zoro for most of the trip for any type of combat and you see how he."

She turns to see Robin still staring at Zoro and decides to speak up,

"Was he always like this?"

Robin snaps her head over not expecting someone to speak to her,

"He was always a bit harsh and cold but never to this extent and his words are worrying me. What situation is he talking about?"

Asaka sighs,

"I'm not sure, he isn't one to be open about themselves so he's never told me much about himself."

Robin narrows her eyes and returns back to staring at Zoro, Asaka weakly chuckles before continuing,

"I can probably keep on bugging him into helping you."

Robin shakes her head,

"No need, I'll go talk to him."

Asaka quirks an eyebrow,

"You sure about that? He's a very stubborn guy."

Robin smiles at her,

"I am well aware of that."

After that she walks towards Zoro and sits down across from his resting form, for a few seconds nothing is said between them but finally Zoro speaks up,

"What do you want?"

Robin still retains her smile not faltering even for a second,

"I'm here to check on you. Are you not happy to see me?"

Zoro sighs and finally opens his eyes,

"No, of course I'm happy to see you but I'm not happy that we reunited when I'm in such a detestable state."

She quirks an eyebrow at this,

"What detestable state are you talking about?"

He tiredly looks up before sighing and rubbing his face,

"Never mind, don't worry about it."

She looks at him like she wasn't going to give up before chuckling and returning to her smile,

"Well if you aren't going to take a nap could you at least help my friends out here, we could really use a few extra hands considering the situation we're in."

He gives her an annoyed look before grumbling and standing up,

"Fine."

He starts to walk past her as she chuckles but is stopped when she grabs his arm, he turns towards her with a questioning look,

"What?"

She smiles at him and gives him a hug,

"It's nice to see you again."

They hold that embrace for a few moments before she pecks him on the cheek and releases him heading back towards the group leaving a somewhat dazed Zoro,

_"Look at the idiot, one kiss and his mind's already gone completely blank."_

Volron grumbles as Ashura chuckles and speaks up,

_"We told you that you would thank us for it."_

Zoro shakes his head and tries to keep a neutral expression on his face but can't stop a small smile from breaking out on his face as he heads towards the group, Sabo notices Robin returning to the group but before he can say anything he notices another figure trailing behind her. He smiles as he recognized that it was Zoro who was failing to hide a smile on his face,

"So I guess you are helping us then."

Zoro gives him a blank look,

"Don't worry I'm not doing it for you."

Sabo chuckles at him,

"I wouldn't think so, I'm Sabo."

He sticks his hand out for Zoro to shake which Zoro does,

"Let's get this over with then, I don't have all the time in the world."

The man that was angered by Zoro's behavior earlier spoke up instead of Sabo,

"If it was that easy do you think we would need your help?!"

Zoro merely spares him a glance before walking towards the other side of the forest, Sabo yells for him,

"Where are you going?!"

Zoro doesn't stop or even turn around to face them before answering,

"I'm heading towards your ship!"

Sabo pauses for a second before responding,

"How do you know where it is?!"

Zoro waves him off,

"Found it when I was scouting out the island, killed a couple of monsters there too. Probably still a good thirty or forty of them left around your ship!"

Asaka chuckles a bit but keeps an eye on Robin as she answers,

"Told ya he would be useful, what's your name anyway?"

The embarrassed man responds,

"My name is Kanno."

Asaka gives him a wide smile,

"Never underestimate him, I watched him take down an entire army of monsters without breaking a sweat and with a grin on his face."

Robin chuckles after hearing this,

"Sounds just like him."

They quickly follow after him not wanting to be left behind by the person that everyone had hopes in for defeating the monsters, after many minutes of hiking through the forest they finally come across the other side of the island where the revolutionaries ship was docked. Sabo signals for them all to gather so to come up with a plan but notices Zoro still staring at the group of monsters by himself,

"Zoro! We're going to discuss the plan now!"

He spares Sabo a glance before taking out his blades and readying himself,

"Just leave everything to me."

They look at him like he was crazy,

"Wha-!"

But it was too late as Zoro had already charged forward, he jumped off the ledge that they were on putting a lot of power behind his legs hoping to end up in the middle of the group of monsters. In the few seconds that he was in the air he noticed that these monsters seemed a bit familiar but he discarded that thought as he started to descend, a few of the monsters notice his presence but it was too late as Zoro already made his move.

"Ashura no Kohai!"

The strike instantly crushes one of the beast and causes the rest of them to stumble as the ground shook under the power behind the strike, Zoro shakes the blood of his blade before giving the monsters a blood-thirsty grin.

"Don't give me a boring fight, Kokujo: O Tatsumaki!"

Much to his disappointment the fight was boring as the monsters were all caught in the twister he created, he yawns and swings one of his blades over his shoulder lazily looking at the battered monsters. He sighs and turns around walking away but a yell alerts him,

"Get back!"

Without thinking he instantly dives forward just to avoid a strike from one of the beasts he thought were dead, he jumps back and glares at the monsters who were all standing up after his attack. Kanno scoffs at him,

"If it was that easy did you think we would have needed your help?! These things don't die!"

Zoro pauses for a moment to glare at Kanno before closing his eyes and igniting his blades surprising those around him and before they could say anything he dashed forward at the monsters. The group ready themselves for the same result seeing the monsters as something of unkillable beasts seeing as they always stood up no matter the attack they threw at them, they watched as Zoro once again carved his way through the mass of monsters.

"Stop charging in already! Nothing's going to change you idiot!"

But to everyone's surprise the monsters that Zoro cut down not only didn't get up but were completely consumed by the flames that Zoro's blade left on them, they look at Zoro somewhat shocked to see that he was still slowly carving his way through he mass of monsters with relative ease looking quite bored while doing so. Finally having enough he jumps back and aims his blade straight at the few remaining monsters,

"Torai Saiko Kaitai Ryusei!"

The bolts of fire shot forward slamming into many of the beast instantly consuming them as Zoro dashed forward to finish off the few that weren't struck by the bolts, after a few moments Zoro finished them all off. He sheathes his blades and turns back to the awestruck group,

"Are you going to take the ship or not?"

After hearing those words they are broken from their stupor and stumble a bit as they run towards their ship, Zoro gives a cocky grin to Kanno who raced past him trying to avoid his gaze. Having enough fun mocking him his drops the grin and settles on a more neutral expression as Sabo approached him, Sabo sticks his hand out with a wide grin on his face,

"Thanks for the help, if it weren't for you we might have been stuck on this island for much longer."

Zoro gives him a soft smile,

"Don't worry about it, though I would recommend leaving soon as there are bound to be even more of them around."

With this Sabo's smile droops a bit,

"I would like to but the problem still remains on the island and it is our job to exterminate it."

Zoro quirks an eyebrow at this,

"The revolutionary army's job is to solve monster mysteries?"

Sabo pauses for a second before giving Zoro a odd look,

"How did you know we were the revolutionary army?"

Zoro tries to keep a passive face as he curses himself inside his head, looking for a way out he tries to angle the conversation in a different direction,

"So how are you going to deal with them if you can't kill them?"

Sabo keeps his gaze before loosing up a bit with a sheepish smile,

"I was hoping that you could help us with that, seeing as you can kill them while we can't."

Zoro sighs at this expecting it,

"Well you guys find the root of the problem and call me then, once I know what it is I'll know whether or not I can destroy it."

Sabo bows a bit in thanks,

"Thanks we should be back soon enough. Guys! Let's head out, our job isn't done yet!"

This lead to a few groans as a few of the men followed Sabo back into the forest, Zoro watches them for a few moments before sighing and finding a tree to lean against. He sits down and gets into a meditative stance,

"Those creatures seemed familiar but they were a bit different."

He hears Volron scoff at him,

_"No shit they couldn't be killed without the Soul-Devouring Flames."_

Zoro rolls his eyes before continuing,

"Any idea what they are? Cause I've never seen or even heard about anything like it, they seemed just like the monsters that I faced at Hell's Gate, with the exception of you know being a bit more difficult to kill."

Ashura sighs,

_"This is the first time I have seen something like this so I can't help you there."_

Zoro sighs and opens his eyes,

"Well thanks anyway."

Zoro stands up stretching a bit before walking into the forest,

"Where are you going?"

He shifts his head to see that it was Robin, he rubs that back of his head and continues walking.

"I'm going for a walk to clear my head."

He expected her to say something then leave him alone but she didn't as she didn't say anything and he could hear her footsteps still trailing behind him, he stops and turns towards her,

"If you wanted to follow me you could have just said so."

She smiles at him,

"I'm not following you, I'm just here to make sure you don't get into any trouble."

Zoro grumbles and rubs the back of his head as she walked up to him and they continued side by side, they walk for minutes without a word being exchanged between them before Robin finally spoke up.

"So what seems to be on your mind?"

Zoro takes a moment to think before responding,

"It's nothing you need to worry about, I'll deal with it myself there's no need for you to get involved."

Robin gives him an unimpressed look,

"The last time you said that I almost died when you got possessed so forgive me if I doubt your words."

Zoro chuckles a bit,

"The difference is that this time I know what I'm doing."

Robin smiles still looking somewhat unimpressed,

"Well you're a stubborn man so I won't pry much further, though I wish you would seek help from others if you are ever in trouble."

Zoro snorts,

"More often than not people seek my help when their in trouble."

Robin giggles lightly,

"True enough."

They descend back into silence for the many more minutes before Robin speaks up once again,

"There is still a long while before the crew reunites, after we conclude our work on this island what will you do?"

Zoro pauses for a moment contemplating her question,

"I don't know, I can't stay in one place long or I will grow complacent and the purpose of these two years will have been wasted. It was nice meeting you again but I don't believe that I can simply sit around with you for the remainder of this time."

He turns towards her expecting the worse but to his surprise she simply smiles at him and starts walking back to the Revolutionary ship, before she disappears she stops and looks at him one last time.

"Just as I had expected, your ambition and dedication towards your goal trumps everything else. Though it is slightly disappointing that you won't stay by my side for long, if you didn't choose that then you would have changed drastically from the man that I met and loved which would have been an even worse outcome."

With that she disappears into the forest leaving Zoro alone staring shocked in the direction which she left in, finally after a few moments he shakes himself from his stupor he takes a few moments to register he words before turning around and continuing on his walk with a giant smile on his face.

_"You're like a child that kissed his first girl, god get over yourself already."_

That instantly soured his mood,

"You know for once could you just let me enjoy life instead of barging right in every time with you overly pessimistic overview of everything."

Volron scoffs but doesn't respond leaving Zoro alone, Zoro sighs at this but Volron's interruption did bring him back to the main reason he took this walk to begin with. He rolls his right sleeve up to reveal the new tattoo that adorned his body, he studies it a bit before putting it into action igniting his arm with flames and standing before a tree in a calm stance before instantly his fist shot out slamming into the tree. With the combined force of his fist and the flames on it the tree was obliterated instantly bringing a slight smile to his face,

"If a swordsman does not possess a blade then he must become the blade itself."

Though the result was up to his standard this was the first time he had tested this out and he did not expect the drawback as when he relaxed he was slammed with a agonizing feeling in his arm, he drops to one knee gripping his arm tightly and gritting his teeth.

"Thanks for not mentioning this it was a great help."

Volron growls at him,

_"I don't enjoy your sarcasm mortal, you wished to become stronger and we gave you more power. It's as simple as that, you can't blame us simply because your body is not strong enough to wield such power mortal, the only person you can blame for that is yourself for being weak."_

Zoro rolls his eyes but takes understands what he means, if what it took to wield this power without the drawback was to simply become physically stronger than that is what he had to do. He dissipates the flames on his arm and returns to a form of training which he hasn't done in quite a while, Haki training, he was complacent with how much his Haki had advance compared to how he was before but if what this new power he possessed requires him to strengthen his body then he would have to resume. He attempts to coat his entire body in Haki knowing that it wouldn't work but needing to know just how far he could go and how much more he had to improve, much to his satisfaction his Haki had unknowingly advance a bit more through his excessive use of it as his Haki had managed to cover his entire torso and was making its way down his legs stopping just a bit short of covering his entire thigh. His goal by the end of this session was to coat his entire body in Haki and he immediately dived into it working himself restlessly for an extended period of time, after what felt like hours he finally takes a break and decides that it would be a wise decision to return back to the Revolutionary ship in case Sabo did discover what was behind the appearance of these creatures and had returned. Hauling his body he slowly makes his way back to the ship hoping to take a bit of a breather through his walk before returning to a bit more training, once he arrives as he had suspected Sabo and the men that followed him had returned all looking a bit worse for wear. Zoro quirks an eyebrow at this and smirks,

"So I guess you found something."

Sabo chuckles at him and grabs a drink of water,

"There is an old man in a robe resurrecting these creatures, we tried to stop him but once he noticed us he sent the creatures after us and we are helpless against them seeing as we have no means of keeping them dead."

Zoro walks up to Sabo and puts a hand on his shoulder and smiles,

"Just point me in his direction and I'll deal with it."

Sabo lets out a deep breath before answering,

"He's over there by the mountain, there should be a cave at the base of the mountain to its east side. The man is within the cave."

Zoro pats Sabo's back surprising him and makes his way into the forest,

"Give me an hour and everything will be done with."

With that Zoro disappears into the forest for roughly the next hour leaving only roars and explosions as indications to the Revolutionaries that he was causing havoc. Zoro himself made his way to the base of the mountain by tearing through the monsters that appeared and the very forest itself, once he arrived he didn't stop or even spare a though heading right into the cave. After a few moments of blindly walking around he gets a clue of where the man is through quiet chanting,

"Bingo."

After figuring out where he was Zoro dashed towards the direction,

"Jinsoku!"

Knowing that sneaking around wasn't his strong suit he decided a much faster and straightforward approach charging straight at the surprised man, not giving him any time to react he dashed forward and skillfully severs the tendons his legs. A scream ensued as the man attempted to escape by crawling away, Zoro couldn't help but let a bit of his sadistic side show through a maniacal smile and crazed glint in his eye,

"Now, now don't try to get away or this is going to get a hell of a lot worse for you."

The man stares at Zoro in fear, Zoro in return gives him a electrified smiles,

"Now that's more like it!"

He kicks the man slamming him into the wall inciting another scream, he grabs the man by his collar and pulls him in,

"Who are you and why are you doing this?"

Though still fearful the man doesn't respond, Zoro gives the man an annoyed look and pierces right through the mans lung,

"Answer me or die!"

The man coughs up a bit of blood and looks up in fear before his fearful gaze changed to one of a crazed lunatic,

"You can't do anything! My master has set his sights on you! You'll be nothing but a puppet controlled by his strings soon enough!"

Zoro narrows his eyes and notices the man convulsing,

"Who is he?"

Zoro drops the man as the man starts laughing hysterically as blood poured out of every hole on his face,

"THE GREAT LORD SATAN!"

Zoro only had a second to register this before the man imploded, Zoro wipes the blood off his body in disgust as he thought about what the man said.

"Satan again, seems like I'll be meeting him soon enough."

With that Zoro makes his way back to the Revolutionary ship he is left alone to contemplate the sight he just witnessed, a crazed man that served Satan a demon that was for some reason hunting him down. He sighs while thinking of this,

"Why do I keep on attracting demons, this never happened last time."

He said that but already knew the answer, his involvement with Ashura and Volron are a main reason to why he keeps on attracting demons and monsters. He sighs once more before becoming quiet for the rest of his trek hoping to get to the Revolutionary ship soon so that he rest, he would reach it in the next few minutes without anybody noticing as they were all facing the wrong direction to him. He shrugs his shoulders and lays down against a tree closing his eyes to get some sleep as the Revolutionaries were all on edge keeping an eye out for him, he would get a few minutes before the Revolutionaries found him. Sabo was the first one to come up to him,

"So I'm guessing that you defeated him especially with the blood covering your body."

Zoro pauses for a second and lifts his arm up to see it still mostly covered in blood,

"Funny enough I didn't kill him, spontaneous combustion finished him off for me."

Sabo quirks an eyebrow,

"Spontaneous combustion?"

Zoro nods,

"Yea, before I could finish him off he exploded. That's why I'm covered in blood."

Sabo looks slightly concerned before shaking it off,

"Well I would recommend a shower, nobody likes to stay drenched in blood."

Zoro chuckles lightly,

"I think I'll take you up on that then."

With that Zoro walks past Sabo heading towards the ship, the rest of the Revolutionaries finally notice him and are horrified by the blood-soaked Zoro. He mostly ignored him as he got onto the ship, though he did catch a glimpse of a smiling Robin before he disappeared onto the ship.

~Five Days Later~

He could hear screaming coming from the deck and he was not looking forward to getting out of bed, he rarely ever slept on a bed and forgot just how comfortable it was compared to a wooden railing. The screaming and yelling continued finally pushing him to get out of the bed grumbling the entire time. He storms to the door and kicks it open to be greeted by the sight of Asaka messing around with the Revolutionaries as they played a charade like game, he scowled at them not feeling like dealing with anyone today.

"Well morning."

He glances to his left to see Robin standing there smirking as she took sips of her coffee, he grumbled and sits down next to her with a scowl on his face. She chuckles at this,

"You don't enjoy waking up do you?"

Zoro gives her a lazy glare,

"I rather not wake up to yelling from idiots playing games."

She chuckles at this,

"It was about time you woke up anyway, it wouldn't matter how you woke up."

He grumbles at her but stays silent as he stares out into the ocean and she reads her book, finally feeling like he was awake enough Zoro stood up stretching, Robin didn't even look up from her book before speaking,

"Off to train?"

Zoro cracks his neck and walks off,

"Of course."

She giggles at this,

"Don't push yourself too much."

He rolls his eyes but still smiles as he heads to the back of the ship so to have a quiet place to train, once he arrived he instantly rolled up his right sleeve to expose his tattoo. He sat down in a meditative stance and ignited his arm and placed it over his heart, he could feel the heat emanating from flame as the flame that came from within the tattoo was stronger than any flame he could conjure up himself.

_"That's not a smart thing to do."_

Zoro chuckled,

"If I get injured by a flame that I am suppose to be the master of then I don't deserve the power that comes with it."

He could hear Volron scoff but stay silent for once which was odd but he wasn't going to let this chance go as he continued his training, for once not having much distraction he dived into his training with the utmost attention. After a few moments he started to feel something happen within his body and he excited at the prospect of a new way to use the flames but to his surprise it wasn't the flames that was reacting it was something else. It emerged from his body with a violent jolt causing Zoro to fall backwards, he tilts his head up to look at it before freezing,

"No fucking way."

He was stuck in a stupor for a few moments before he came back to his senses, once doing so he opens his mouth to question what it was but before he could do that he heard footsteps approaching,

"Zoro, we're about to reach the base!"

After hearing that the pale figure rushed back at him and entered his body once again,

"Damn it!"

He scowls annoyed that his work had disappeared but disregarded that fact as he stood up and headed toward where the rest of the Revolutionaries were, they were all grouped together with the exception of the few that were manning the ship. Robin walks next to him and smiles,

"Welcome to the headquarters of the Revolutionary Army."

**That's a wrap I felt like the later half of this chapter was kind of bad but I didn't know how to properly move the story on from there, I've just been too distracted with school and excited with Anime North coming soon. But besides that I've been playing video games a bit more regularly so the amount of time I spend working on the chapters has greatly diminished which I am kind of sad about but I need some relaxation. This story has been fun to write but I feel like it could be better, especially since the separation of the crew. The Land of the Flying Beasts seemed lack luster and I disliked how it turned out, and I only made this chapter so to reunite Zoro and Robin. I believed that Hell's Gate was the only one that was alright and I'm happy about that but I haven't really done much with this Satan plot line which I keep on putting off. Along with that I can't think of new ways for Zoro to get stronger, I honestly feel like my sense of imagination is just slowly dying out. I know that there are many of you that think the story is good enough and I'm thankful for the support, but I'm naturally a very negative person and it doubles when it comes to my own flaws or work. It is a bit disheartening when I look at something I work on for a week and just feel like I'm a disappointment because it seems bad in my own opinion. I know that this isn't exactly what your expecting in this AN and I'm sorry. But once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	36. Encroaching War

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

He stood there blank faced as Dragon stared back at him, they had been silently having a stare off for the past couple minutes. It was odd as many Revolutionaries were around them awkwardly trying to find the words to get them to stop as neither of them would say a word to each other,

"Ok, I think that's enough."

Neither of them look away but they knew that it was Sabo that said that, they could also hear him sigh as he turned towards Robin,

"You seem to be able to control him to a certain extent, can you help?"

Robin giggles at this and walks forward grabbing his arm and dragging him away, Zoro stumbles a bit as she dragged him and glares at her. She continues without her smile even wavering for a second,

"As powerful as you are you shouldn't pick a fight with everyone, especially the leader of the Revolutionary Army."

Zoro grumbles at this and turns towards her,

"I'm not trying to pick a fi-"

He didn't get to finish as something slams into him slamming into the ground, he twist his body to see what hit him. He groans when he sees that it was Warpclaw,

"Get off me you damn bird!"

Robin giggles at this and rubs Warpclaw's head affectionately,

"He's cute."

Zoro glares at her,

"Don't encourage him."

Zoro pushes Warpclaw off of him and heads towards the room that the Revolutionary Army let him stay in, which funny enough was the room that was given to Robin too. Robin and Warpclaw follow behind him both in a jolly mood as Zoro grumbled the entire way to the room, once he reached the room he immediately collapsed onto the bed almost instantly falling asleep. A few moments later Robin enters the room with Warpclaw who was struggling to fit through the smaller doorframe.,

"You don't have to follow me around."

Robin sits down in the chair to the left of the bed and takes out her book to read,

"I don't have to, yes. But they asked me to keep an eye on you since we know each other and they don't trust you."

Zoro rolls over and stares at the ceiling with a tired look on his face,

"Well they don't have to worry about me, I'm not going to be here for long anyway."

This statement for once actually causes Robin's smile to falter a bit, but she covers this up with her book,

"Still while you stay here I'm responsible for you, just so you don't leak anything or destroy the entire base."

Zoro grumbles and sits up and heads for the door, Robin puts down her book and quirks an eyebrow at him,

"Where are you going?"

Zoro yawns a bit as he walks out,

"I'm going to go find some Sake."

Robin chuckles at this and closes her book and following him,

"You insatiable need for alcohol is quiet entertaining once in a while."

Zoro snorts,

"How is it entertaining?"

She smiles at him,

"Now there's no fun in just telling you."

He chuckles at this and walks off, after a few moments of walking he comes upon Asaka in what seemed to be a cafeteria area playing around with a few of the younger Revolutionaries. He shakes his head at this and continues his walk before pausing and remembering the sudden appearance of a bag when they left the Land of the Flying Beasts. He narrows his eyes at her and scours for the bag in the area, after a few moments he finds nothing he walks off to the room that was given to Asaka in search of the bag. Once he reaches her room he quickly closes the door behind him hoping no one saw him enter and looks for the bag, it would take a few moments but he would find the bag underneath her bed. He drags it out and opens it and pauses gaining a look of annoyance,

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

He puts the bag back underneath the bed and heads back to where Asaka was, she was happily joking around with the Revolutionaries when Zoro appeared behind her with an extremely annoyed look on his face. He grabs her by the arm and drags her out of the room,

"We need to talk."

His dangerous tone left her no room to discuss as she complied easily following him, once in a secluded enough area she spoke up.

"What is it?"

He glared at her,

"You want to tell me what's in the bag?"

She froze slightly but tried to hide it,

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Zoro growls at her,

"Don't play dumb with me! I notice a bag that appeared after we left the island and when I went looking for it I found it under your bed, now tell me what's inside the fucking bag."

She backs away slightly before giving in,

"Ok, when I was captured in the cave I noticed a few other rooms in the cave. There was one room that contained dragons eggs and I couldn't just let them all get destroyed so I took one of them with us."

Zoro's annoyed expression grew,

"And you didn't think it was a good idea to inform me of you reckless decision?"

Zoro storms off before Asaka could even respond, he had enough of her actions. She didn't understand just how dangerous and reckless everyone she did was and if this were to continue then he would have no part in it. He's already played babysitter for her long enough, she is an adult time to own up her own actions and decisions. He returns back to his room to see Robin still sitting there reading her book, she doesn't lower when he enters,

"I would presume that you didn't find Sake but something annoying seeing as you've been storming around the base."

He glares at her before sighing and falling backwards onto the bed,

"I never understood how you could know so much."

She chuckles at this,

"I have ears everywhere."

He only spares he a glance before closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose, they sit in silence for a few minutes as Robin continued to read her book and Zoro tried to relax. But that silence is broken when Robin spoke up,

"Zoro."

He opens his eyes and sits up to look at her with a lazy eye,

"Yea?"

She puts down her book and looks at him somewhat seriously,

"Do you remember what you said to the crew at Sabaody Archipelago?"

Zoro pauses to think for a moment for stiffening up,

"Yea I think I know what you are referring to."

She walks over and sits down next to him,

"Then I believe this is a prime moment to explain."

Zoro sighs and lays back down but before he could say anything an alarm goes off surprising all of them,

"The hell is that?!"

Robin shoots up and races towards the door,

"That's the alarm for an attack!"

Zoro stops for a moment before grinning, this attack saved him from explaining everything to Robin and would serve as a stress-reliever for him seeing as everything seemed to piss him off at this point. He charges for an exit to meet the oncoming attack, once out of the base he sees what he was up against, an entire army of hellhounds. He narrows his eyes but doesn't stop as he charges towards them, he could hear many of the Revolutionaries calling for him to stop but he doesn't. Unsheathing all of his blades he attacks,

"Torai Saiko Kaitai Ryusei!"

Sending three bolts of fire to start the battle, they tear through a large part of the front line of the attack opening up a path for Zoro to charge right through as he throws himself into battle. Not keeping track of the Revolutionaries that charge in after him he dedicated everything he had into enjoying this moment as he killed everything that came within sight losing himself to his bloodthirsty desires. This would continue on for quite a while before he finally found himself in sea of blood without an opponent to fight, he pauses for a moment drenched in blood to look around. He sees that a majority of the hellhounds had all backed away from leaving him surrounded in a circle of hellhounds, he grins at them with a crazed look in his eye and taunts them,

"What? That's all you got? You monsters are pathetic!"

They growl at him and look ready to pounce but a figure breaks through the sea of monsters and stands across from Zoro, he puts a hand up causing all the hellhounds to settle down and back away bit. This piques Zoro's interest causing him to narrow his eyes at the figure that just appeared, the man, or what he thinks is a man, was decked out in full body armor that was pitch black in color. That was the only characteristic Zoro could identify seeing as he wasn't able to find the mans face hidden behind the armor, they stare at each other for a few moments before the man breaks into laughter.

"You are quite a troublesome person Demon Wind."

Zoro remains vigilant as the man takes slow strides forward,

"How do you know who I am?"

The man chuckles a stops a few feet in front of Zoro obviously not afraid of him despite the display of power and savagery he had just displayed,

"My master has his eyes on you and is waiting for you to come to him dear swordsman."

Zoro takes a step back scanning for a way to escape just in case things get hairy,

"Master? Who is he?"

The man breaks into laughter once again,

"Well who else could it be but the great demon lord Satan!"

Zoro grimaces at this,

"Him again, tell him that I'm not interested."

The mans laughter dies down a bit and snarls at Zoro,

"Now that is a bit rude, if he wished it he could simple erase you from existence right where you stand so show respect."

Zoro narrows his eyes noticing the shift in behavior and seeing it as obvious red flags,

"I show respect to those that command respect not those that hide behind legions of ugly beast and servants."

He was hoping that this would tick the man off and it did,

"You insufferable creature! I shall make you suffer for that comment!"

He charged at Zoro with hate radiating off each word but Zoro saw this coming and prepared,

"Kokujo: O Tatsumaki!"

The attack managed to send the man off-balance and flung him back as Zoro spun around and charged at the hellhounds that blocked his escape, not willing to risk the man recovering and coming after him, he doesn't toy with them like he would have liked to.

"Rengoku Oni Giri!"

The attack tore through a large amount of the beasts but was still wasn't enough to form a complete path for Zoro to get through as he continued to fend off the onslaught of monsters,

"YOU BASTARD!"

Zoro grumbles under his breath,

"Son of a bitch."

He spares a glance backwards to see the man storming towards him,

"I would love to talk but I'm afraid I don't have the time for that."

The man growls at him,

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE SO I CAN LOP YOUR HEAD OFF!"

Zoro rolls his eyes and strikes at the hellhounds blocking his way,

"Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!"

With the spiral of flames at his spearhead he charges through the beast as the flames either scared them away or charred them to ash, finally making headway he doesn't slow down in hopes that the man wouldn't catch up to him. His momentum is completely stopped when something slams into the his right side flinging him into he horde of hellhounds, so to stop the beast from tearing into him he had to strike in the split second he was in the air,

"Kokujo: O Tatsumaki!"

That threw all the hellhounds away from him letting him catch his breath as he recovered from the strike, the man stomped forward his anger evident through his eyes that were set aflame and glaring directly at him.

"I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!"

Zoro rolls his eyes at this and scans for weaknesses and a feasible escape route if necessary, though with the full body armor a weakness was not something he could easily find and an escape would be very difficult seeing as he was still surrounded. He snarkily responds to the man,

"Real original, what's next you gonna pull a poem out your ass?"

The man only growled in response as he quickly closed the distance between a two of them pulling out a broadsword from out of nowhere bringing it down in a slashing motion at Zoro, not one to simply let an opponent get quick shots at him Zoro brings up his blades to block the strike. They locked blades equally for a few moments before Zoro slowly started to be overwhelmed by the man, he grits his teeth trying to not falter as the man pushed him back. Not one that liked to lose he started taking his opponent more seriously,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

With renewed vigor and a massive new power boost Zoro pushed back fiercely managing to balance the scales once again as he started to lose himself a bit in the fight, they disengage and Zoro instantly dashed forward never one to let go of an opportunity to strike. They clashed back and forth many times neither gaining the upper hand or landing a decent strike as the other would either skillfully dodge or block the strike, though exhaustion was slowly making its way in the fight as no matter how powerful Zoro was, tearing threw and army of hellhounds then dueling a powerful opponent was draining his energy. In his exhausted state the man finally lands a strike slamming into the right side of his ribs causing him to cough up blood, the man laughs hysterically,

"You think I'm a simple brute like you?! HAH don't make me laugh, my blade isn't just a simple great sword. It drains the vitality of my opponent with every clash you fool!"

Zoro growls and brushes the blood from the corner of his mouth,

"Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

If he was surprised at Zoro's transformation he didn't show it as his eyes still burned with anger and didn't waver even slightly,

"Ashura: Ichibugin!"

The man tense up for a second and instantly tried to avoid the strike leading to Zoro's attack only giving him shallow cuts, but that attack seemed to have drained most of Zoro's energy as he stumbled a bit before collapsing. The man studies the cuts on his body and gives a mocking grin,

"Was that all you have? That was just pathetic and you were talking so confidently earlier and this is all you could amount to? Just pathetic!"

Zoro growls and tries to get up but the man takes his blade and slams it into his back forcing back down,

"Don't get up now worm, I have no idea why my lord would wish to meet a revolting creature like you. I should just kill you now so that you can no longer cause any problems for us."

Zoro grits his teeth and slowly feels himself losing feeling in many parts of his body and falling, the only thought that ran through his head was how pathetic this was.

"Once Fleur: Slam!"

The man that was standing over Zoro was flung off him allowing him to relax a bit as a weight was literally lifted off his shoulders,

"Zoro!"

He turns his head to see Robin, Sabo, Koala, and Asaka all racing towards him. He groans and tries to sit up but is stopped by Robin,

"You idiot! This is what you get for charging at an army alone."

Zoro chuckles a bit before stopping as he coughs up a bit of blood, he's about to say something but an explosion stops him. They all turn towards the explosion to see the man standing there with his great sword at the ready and his eyes blazing even stronger than before,

"YOU WILL ALL SUFFER! I WILL MAKE SURE YOUR BODIES WILL BE HUNG OVER THE GATES OF HELL FOR INSULTING MY MASTER AND FIGHTING AGAINST ME!"

Zoro grumbles a bit,

"You sure you guys can deal with this? He isn't exactly a walk in the park."

But before any of them could answer a giant horn goes off causing all of the monsters to freeze, the man looks behind him and growls,

"You got lucky this time! Remember the name of Akathorn the Proud, for I will be the one to end your life!"

The army slowly retreats leaving the Revolutionary army confused, Sabo broke the silence,

"The hell was that?!"

Zoro groans and lays back down letting his body finally completely relax as he slowly fell unconscious, the last thing he could hear before he completely fell unconscious was the other Revolutionaries rushing towards him along with the fading voice of Robin and Asaka.

~Sometime Later~

Zoro lazily opens his eyes to a completely white room and tries to sit up, he simply shrugs off the room and stretches his weary limbs while getting out of the bed. He looks for a door so to find the Robin but found a suspicious lacking of one, he narrows his eyes and looks around paying a bit more attention to his surroundings this time to see that this room was glaringly white with nothing except for a bed in the center of it. He blink s few times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating before searching around once again, now he was truly confused about this situation. The last thing he remembered was fighting the demon guy he thinks called himself Akathorn and passing out, but even if he were to pass out he had no recollection of any room in the Revolutionary base being like this. So this lead him to two conclusions, either he had died or he had been captured unknowingly after the battle, neither being favorable outcomes for him. Seeing as there was literally nothing inside the room except for a bed Zoro simply decided to hop back onto he bed for some more rest until something would happen, though with his isolation to anything from the world in this room he still understood that he had remained trapped in the room for a quite a bit before anything would happen. After what he assumed was about five hours a new light emerged and created a doorway across from his bed, Zoro sat up waiting for who or whatever to emerge from the door with his patience already run dry as it is. What he didn't expect was for a giant of a man with pure white wings to walk through the doorway, the man smiles at him but Zoro stayed on guard not sure how to react to this,

"Who the fuck are you?"

The man continues to smiles as he answers,

"I am the Archangel Michael."

Zoro quirks an eyebrow at this,

"What the hell are you and what the hell am I doing here?"

The man chuckles lightly and pulls a chair out from nowhere to sit on,

"Silly man I already told you what I am, an Archangel, and why you're here well that's simple you died."

Zoro pauses for a second,

"You're kidding me!"

Michael's smile turns a sad,

"Sadly I am not, but fear not nothing will happen to you. We are already well aware of your past ventures and your deal with Ashura, you have lived out your time long enough it is time to rest dear warrior."

Zoro sits silently for a few moments digesting everything before growling, shooting forward and grabbing Michael by the collar of his robe.

"I can't die, not until I finished what I started!"

Michael shakes his head,

"That is not how things work my friend, everyone is destined to die before or after they achieved what they wished for, as a human you have no control over your fate."

Zoro growls at him,

"I make my own fate, you blasted gods and angels can't control me!"

Michael opens his mouth to say something but is blasted back by a flame that emerged from Zoro's right arm, Michael looks shocked at the flame that had just attacked him,

"Impossible, we removed everything that was related to the demon on you, the holy energy that entered you should have eradicated all the demonic energy that laid dormant within your body!"

But Zoro ignored him and studied the flame that had emerged, it was different from the usual flames he used in his fights due to it not only being singularity black, it possessed a mixture of black and white flames that seemed to have cooperated to create this.

"The flames have amalgamated?!"

Zoro turns towards Michael confused,

"Amalgamated?"

Michael shoots forward and studies the flames,

"Usually either one or the other energies would eradicate the other but in this rare instance they do not fight each other in hopes of removing each other at all, they're collaborating and created a new type of energy!"

Zoro looks at it slightly confused but with a better understanding of it, but his response was paused as the flames started to spread all over his body.

"What's it doing now?!"

Michael stutters a bit in his response,

"I-I don't know, this was created within your body and is something that we hold absolutely not information about. How would we understand what it is doing?"

Zoro tries to stop the flames but he had no control over the flames as it continued to spread, right before the flames covered his entire body he turned towards Michael with a glare,

"I still don't accept the fact that I died, my goal has yet to be completed and I will complete it before I will ever think of kicking the bucket!"

With that the energy completely consumed him before dissolving leaving nothing but a few drops of fire behind, Michael simply frown before disappearing and collapsing the room and removing it from existence.

"This is quite unsettling, I should keep an eye out if that man were to ever reappear again."

~With Zoro~

He was engulfed in complete darkness and lost of control of his senses as he floated lifelessly, this time there wasn't even a bed for him to rest on. But he wouldn't have to wait as long as the darkness swirled around him creating a figure in front of him, Zoro stayed silent and waited for the figure to speak but it never did instead Zoro would have to.

"Who the hell are you now?!"

The figure finally spoke up,

"Master I do not possess a name or a purpose yet."

Zoro looks at the figure shocked,

"Master?"

The figure nods,

"Yes, I am the flame that was created from the joining of the two energies within your body so I am your servant. I saw you were in an unfavorable situation so I brought you into my realm so to save you."

Zoro blinks once, then twice,

"So the mixture of the two energies that was within my body created a sentient being?"

The figure nods once again,

"Yes, what shall you use me for?"

Zoro sighs before answering in a joking way,

"You got a way to bring me back from the dead?"

He chuckles a bit not expecting the figure to have one,

"Yes."

His laughter stops and he blinks once, then twice,

"You do?!"

The figure nods,

"With the current excess energy within my body it is possible to revive your body giving you a slim chance to be brought back to life, though I must caution you if the energy isn't used up completely in this process then your body shall not be able to withstand the energy most likely causing it to implode taking your soul with it."

Zoro gulps but still smiles,

"At least it's better than what I had to begin with."

The figure nods and starts to gather its energy but is stopped by Zoro,

"Before we do that we should give you a name. You have any ideas?"

The figure shakes its head,

"I will be pleased with any name you give me master."

Zoro thinks for a few moments before finally settling on something,

"When I Michael first told me about it I was just going to call you the Flame of Resurrection but now that you're a sentient being calling you that is just off, so from today on forward you will be Nazuna the Flame of Resurrection!"

The now named Nazuna nods its head,

"Thank you master, then I will now proceed to return you back to the world."

Zoro smiles at this,

"No problem, just try not to kill me."

With that the darkness surrounding them tears apart into tendrils that formed a cocoon around Zoro, with Zoro protected Nazuna starts to dispense the energy that was used to create her so to bring Zoro back to life.

~With Zoro~

Once again he was engulfed in darkness but at least this time he knew what was going on, he patiently waited for Nazuna to finish with what she was doing and bring him back to life. Though this took would take longer than he would have anticipated he would still wait, he would eventually lose consciousness as Nazuna went into the final stages of reviving him. He would eventually regain consciousness and jolt up at the surprise that he wasn't dead, he looked around to find himself in a room again but this time a room that wasn't glaringly bright and with only a bed possessing no door. He lets out a breath of relief and lays back down to cool down and think about what just happened, what had happened was weighing on him. He had actually died and was nowhere near close to his goal of killing everyone that had caused the death of his crew mates in the past, he still had to get so much stronger and wasting his days around traveling was not he way to go though he still had to deal with Satan so to make sure he wouldn't disturb him any longer. But until he came up with a plan for that he would have to recover first, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard voices and footsteps slowly getting closer to the room he was in. He pops one eye open to watch as Sabo, Robin, and Asaka enter,

"We can't just keep him here, he's dead we should just bury him. There's no point in keeping him in a hospital bed that could be used for a Revolutionary that is injured, we can help those that are injured not those that are already dead."

Zoro decided that this was a good time to enter into the conversation,

"Who said I was dead?"

This statement shocked all of them as even Robin seemed to have taken a step back as Zoro sat up and grinned at them,

"You can't kill me that easily."

It took them a second before they relaxed as Asaka dived towards him,

"We all thought you were dead!"

Zoro grimaces at this,

"I'm not dead but still injured so I don't think jumping me would exactly help here."

Asaka lets go and sheepishly smiles at him,

"Though you guys aren't exactly wrong I did kind of die."

They all looked at him confused,

"What do you mean?"

Zoro chuckles at them,

"Don't worry about it, I'll explain another time."

He turns to his right,

"Nazuna?"

The shadows in the room slowly collect to form a figure that bowed down to Zoro surprising the other occupants in the room,

"Yes master?"

Zoro smiles,

"Nothing was just checking on something, though I find it weird for you to call me master."

Nazuna gets up from her bow,

"Then what shall I call you?"

Zoro cracks his neck and lays back down on the bed,

"Just Zoro is fine."

Nazuna nods and disperses into shadows again, Zoro closes his eyes with a smile on his face and the room is silent for a few moments before Asaka spoke up.

"What the hell was that?!"

Zoro chuckles at her not even opening his eyes,

"Like I said don't worry about it."

He tunes them out as Asaka continues to question him as Robin and Sabo chuckle at her antics.

**That's a wrap I've been kinda lazy so this chapter was finished a lot later than I wanted it to be but ehh, I'm just excited Anime North is coming. BUT I have a shit ton of school work to do and exams to prepare for so I'm just kind of dying right now, even with all of that for some reason I feel like starting another story. Stupid right? I've always been constantly thinking of what I should write next and I feel like starting the second story when summer starts won't be a bad idea, like I'll have a hell of a lot more time to work on the stories and I won't have to grumble over one story when I run out of ideas of how to progress it. If I get stuck I could just move over to the other story and work on that, it actually is stupider than I make it sound but ehh I've never been on to make smart decisions. Like I probably would still put it off for a quite a while before starting it but I'm somewhat excited at the prospect, though I'm stuck between two ideas for the next story, either an even more Zoro-centric story that revolves around him being raised by Mihawk or a My Hero Academia one that has Shoto Todoroki being struck down by amnesia. I already have enough on my plate but these two just seem fun to write and I want to, I think the BNHA one would be easier for me to write power-wise seeing as Zoro can only use blades which has been a bit of a struggle for me to write especially cause I don't want to remove the his main three swords now. On another note I'm excited as hell, I'm heading to Anime North tomorrow and it's time to weeb out and spend a shit ton of cash on stuff that I don't need but want! But enough with the rambling. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	37. Devil's Visit

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Zoro quickly walked through the halls trying to avoid Asaka as she chased him around demanding answers of what had happened after the battle against Akathorn and the army of hellhounds. He was going to explain everything but he didn't feel like doing so yet, but she kept on pestering him to reveal everything to her which was slowly getting on his nerves.

"Don't run away from me!"

Zoro grumbles and jumps out of the window, he quickly lands and takes off running hoping that the rocks surrounding the base would be enough to cover for him. After a few moments of waiting and Asaka's voice becoming more distant he lets out a sigh of relief,

"You seem to be having fun."

At this Zoro jumps, spinning around and hovering his hand over the hilts of his blades. He relaxes when he sees that it was just Robin who was smiling cheekily at him,

"Stop sneaking up on me."

She chuckles at this,

"What are you talking about? I'm just taking a peaceful walk to enjoy the scenery of this wonderful place."

He grumbles at this and relaxes a bit as Robin continues to stand beside him,

"Is that all you came here to say?"

Robin shakes her head,

"No, Dragon told me to call you over. He wants to talk to you about something."

Zoro sighs and gets up heading back towards the Revolutionary base to meet Dragon, he was quick in doing so avoiding all the Revolutionaries that were in the base and headed towards the balcony that Dragon was standing on.

"So what do you want with me, Dragon?"

Dragon takes a deep breath and turns around facing Zoro,

"I want you to explain to me everything that happened and your relation to it."

Zoro sighs and rubs the back of his neck,

"Where do you want me to start?"

Dragon points to the chair that was on the side of the balcony,

"Tell me everything that is important."

Zoro sits down across from Dragon and starts,

"All I know about this Akathorn character is that he is a servant of Satan, a powerful demon that commands legions of monsters. I don't know why but he seems to have an odd interest in me and has been constantly sending people and monsters to observe me, so far I've been able to dispatch most of his minions so I would assume this is the reason why they sent an entire army this time, though I have no idea why they were recalled so quickly."

Dragon quirks an eyebrow,

"I don't believe that is all, Sabo told me of an odd encounter with a shadowy creature that called you it's master."

Zoro cracks his neck and returns to his story,

"Well, you guys weren't exactly wrong about how I ended up after the battle, I had actually died and was transported to another realm which I can only assume would be some kind of heaven of sorts. There I met a man who called himself Michael the Archangel, he had attempted to remove all the demonic energy within my body through the use of his holy energy, but that lead to the creation of a new type of energy that was sentient, that is Nazuna the shadowy creature that Sabo mentioned."

Dragon looks down seemingly contemplating everything that Zoro had just told him,

"So this creature was your creation?"

Zoro nods,

"Yea in a way it is since it was born from the conflicting energies within my body."

Dragon nods his head finally accepting the information,

"Though that still begs the question, why did you possess demonic energy?"

Zoro leans back in his chair rubbing the back of his neck a bit harder and sighs,

"This is the part of the story that I rather not explain, there are many circumstances behind how I possessed these abilities and divulging in that information can lead to many outcomes which may be quite troublesome not just to me but also you."

Dragon nods his head and stands up looking out the balcony once again,

"Though I am quite thankful that you revealed this much to me, I still must question. Will they ever attempt an assault of that scale here ever again?"

Zoro sits back up and sighs once again finding it quite annoying at just how much he was sighing,

"With me being here the possibility of it happening is quite high."

Dragon nods his head and turns around,

"Then I am saddened to say, that I believe it would be best for you to leave for the safety of the Revolutionary army."

Zoro gets up from his chair and heads towards the exit of the balcony,

"Just as I suspected, I will leave within the week but I will stay here a for a while longer to sort with a few things if you will allow it."

Dragon turns towards him,

"That is fine, you are a fascinating person that may play a role in the future that the Revolutionary army works to create. A few more days within the base will most likely do us no harm."

Zoro nods and leaves the balcony,

"Thank you then."

Dragon turns his head slightly to the side to staring off at the sunset,

"Though as fascinating as you are, a dangerous card you are too. Only time will tell what the future you pave shall lead to."

Zoro heads back to his room thinking through what he had to sort through before he would be forced to leave the headquarters of the Revolutionary army, a week was more time than he had expected and that was good but it was still not enough for the things he had planned.

"If you find yourself a bit busy than I could help lessen the burden you have to deal with Master Zoro."

Too focused on his thought the sudden intrusion of another voice caused him to jump and reach for his blades again,

"Jesus, don't do that again! And how do you know what I'm thinking?"

Nazuna tilts her blank shadowy face,

"I am sorry if I surprised you but I am always with you so there should be no need for you to be surprised as I am something that was created from your body so I am also connected to you in many ways such as your thoughts, that is why I am able to ascertain what you are thinking about."

Zoro stares at her not exactly sure what to say before sighing and continuing on his way,

"Not sure I exactly like that."

They finally reach Zoro's shared room and Nazuna bows to him,

"Then I will refrain from doing so from now on."

Zoro puts his hand on the door and smiles at it,

"Thank you, though next time I will say try to take on a more human-like appearance. I can't have a shadow follow me around constantly without drawing suspicion to me."

Nazuna nods,

"Then I will do so."

Zoro pushes past the door as Nazuna dissolves into the shadows and is greeted by the sight of Robin quietly sitting on the bed while reading a book, Zoro flops onto the bed with a sigh of relief enjoying how soft and comfortable the bed was.

"So what did he want to talk about?"

Zoro lifts his head up to look at Robin and gives a quiet sigh,

"Do you really want to know?"

Robin chuckles not even looking up from her book,

"I don't need to know but my curiosity wishes to learn of what you talked about."

Zoro grumbles and flips onto his back staring at the ceiling,

"He just asked me if I knew anything about the attack and a few other things."

Robin puts down her book and turns towards Zoro,

"What other things?"

Zoro sits up cracking his neck,

"He asked me what happened after I died, and told me that me staying here posses a threat to the safety of the Revolutionary army so he asked me to leave."

Robin looks down contemplating the information,

"So you're leaving?"

Zoro nods his head,

"But not just yet, he's giving me a week before I have to leave so I have until then to sort through everything manageable until then."

Robin turns towards him looking somewhat saddened, Zoro notices her look and pats her head while smiling. Robin freezes for a few seconds before breaking into happy laughter,

"There's no need to be sad, it isn't like we're never going to see each other again."

Robin grabs his hand and pulls it into her chest feeling the warmth from it while grinning at Zoro's face which was slowly growing red, Robin lightly grips the side of his arm and slowly pulls him closer. Zoro is frozen unsure of what to do in this situation as Robin continued, their faces were barely an inch from each other and stay there for a few moments before Robin blows air in his face causing him to reel back in surprise. Robin starts to giggle breaking Zoro from his stupor,

"What was th-?!"

Zoro is interrupted when Robin grabs his shirt and pulls him in for a kiss surprising him, she giggles a bit more at his dazed look and let's go.

"I'm a bit tired so I'm going to go to sleep."

She lets go off him and turns her back towards him, pulling herself under the covers. Zoro takes a moment before breaking into a grin,

"It seems like Nami rubbed off on you a bit you cheeky girl."

He could hear her trying to suppress a giggle and watches her for a few moments before going under the covers himself, pulling her into his chest.

"Night."

~The Next Morning~

Zoro wakes up with a groan, he tries to lazily turn to the side only to find the action being a bit more difficult than it was supposed to be. He tiredly opens his eyes to try to find out what was stopping him from doing so, it was Robin who was sleeping soundly on his chest which was the stopping him from doing so. He exhales and tries to get Robin off of him without waking her up as he was hoping to get some work done early in the day, he had successfully slipped out from under Robin and headed out to find a secluded spot for him to train. Slipping through the eerily empty halls of the Revolutionary base he looks for an exit but suddenly stops,

"You know you don't have to keep following me, I'm a straightforward person that hates this kind of stuff."

Nothing happens for a while before the wall to his left ripples and a small figure emerges from it,

"Surprising, you actually sensed me."

Zoro turns towards the figure with a scowl on his face,

"Who are you and what do you want with me?"

The figure chuckles,

"I was simply told to keep an eye on you."

Zoro rests his hand on the hilt of his blades,

"Did Satan send you?"

The figure hisses angrily at him causing Zoro to back up and hover his hand over his blades,

"Like I would ever work for that evil bastard! If I had things my way I would torment him myself for the rest of eternity!"

Zoro quirks an eyebrow at this,

"Some strong emotions you have there about him."

The figure hisses for a few more moments before clearing their throat and straightening the cloak that they were wearing,

"Excuse me for that, as you can tell I truly detest that vile creature."

Zoro rolls his eyes and sarcastically responds,

"You don't say."

The figure glares at him,

"Well besides that, I was told to simply keep an eye on you seeing as the demon also has his eyes on you."

Zoro draws Shusui and points it at her,

"And what if I don't like you watching me?"

The glint in Zoro's eye disturb the figure deeply making the figure gulp,

"Those are simply my orders, having someone watch over can't be that bad."

Zoro glares at her,

"I don't care, stay away from me unless you want to be cut down."

The figure nods rapidly,

"I will but first, I need to know what do you think of the demon."

Zoro narrows his eyes,

"Satan? Hate the bastard, all he's brought to me so far is bad luck and a hell of a lot of monsters coming after me."

The figure's grin emerges underneath the cloak,

"Then you have nothing to worry about, we're on the same side here."

With that, the figure hops back into the ripple and disappears causing Zoro to grumble,

"Need to stop attracting all these crazy characters."

With that he continues on his way keeping a careful watch in case that figure emerged again, this luckily didn't happen allowing him to actually concentrate on what he had to do. Once he settled down in a secluded spot he got to it calling Nazuna out,

"Nazuna."

She instantly responded appearing before him this time not just a mess of shadows but possessing a human-like appearance and bowed to him,

"Yes?"

Zoro studies her new appearance for a few moments before responding,

"How did you change your appearance?"

Nazuna get up from her bow,

"I am not a true living being but your creation, if you will it so then I will change in any way to suit what you wish."

Zoro nods his head and then continues on,

"So I called you here because I still don't have a broad enough understanding of what you are able to do and what abilities you possess, all I know so far is that you can disperse your body into shadows and that you could bring me back from the dead."

Nazuna ignites a flame within her palm,

"As you can see I am able to utilize the same flames that you have, along with most of the abilities that you were able to do with the flames. In part, I am a clone of you power wise, though I believe that my agility far surpasses yours."

Zoro studies the flame in her hand finally it practically identical to his own,

"Is that all?"

Nazuna shakes her head,

"I don't believe so but that is all I know of so far."

Zoro furrows his brow,

"Well go and discover what abilities you have then scout the area around the base just in case any demons are lingering around."

Nazuna bows before dispersing into shadows,

"Right away, master."

Once gone Zoro grumbles,

"I told you to stop calling me master."

Zoro gets into a meditative stance concentrating on the energy flowing through his body, ever since he had been revived he felt a bit off like this body wasn't his anymore. He shook his arm trying to feel any abnormalities in his body and finding none but still having the odd feeling, he shrugs his shoulder and ignores that feeling instead prompting to train. Unsheathing his blades he focuses,

"Tamashi no Fujikome!"

Once merged he focus on molding his flames now not to just completely cover his blade in a giant ball of flames, but to refine the flames so that it was more like a thin layer over his blade so that it would also help increase the sharpness of his blades. Until now he had mostly just ignited the flames and left it in that shape never really controlling it instead just shooting it out, now that he was finally trying to control the flame to a certain degree he saw how difficult this task was seeing as the flame almost felt like it had a mind of its own and didn't wish to be restrained in any way. While doing so he would also constantly activate his Armament and Observation Haki so to get used to instantly using them without a second thought, he would continue to do this for a while until he was struck by a sudden headache. He gripped his head in pain as the headache persisted, after a few moments he was suddenly gripped by the side of his head and pulled up. He painfully opened an eye to see a blood red silhouette evilly grinning at him while gripping onto his head,

**"To be put under by such a simple attack, I'm disappointed in you. HAHAHA!"**

Zoro opened his mouth to speak but was struck by an immeasurable pain while doing so,

**"Who said you could speak peasant? You will only speak when I allow you to do so, you are nothing before me so act like it and grovel like the maggot you are."**

The creature let go of Zoro causing him to drop onto the ground as blood started to leak from his eyes and mouth,

"W-Who are you?!"

The creature bent down so that his face was right in front of Zoro's,

**"Why that's just insulting, you don't even know the name of the man that has been tormenting you for the past couple weeks."**

The creature pauses before breaking into a malicious grin,

**"You know that just makes me ANGRY!"**

At that the creature lets loose a blast of pressure that sends Zoro reeling, he opens his eyes to see the creature had slowly grown bigger and started to resemble more of a demon as it grew goat legs, horns, and a tail. Through the pain, Zoro chokes out,

"Y-You're Satan aren't you?"

After saying that the pressure that it let loose slowly receded,

**"Good on you for figuring out who I am."**

Zoro wipes the blood off his face and struggles pushes himself to sit up,

"What do you want with me?"

Satan narrows his eyes at him,

**"I don't like the tone in which you're speaking to me, I am a great demon speak with respect or fear either works."**

Zoro simply glares at Satan,

**"You already know, I grew an interest in you. A human that possesses the blood of a demon, well that isn't something that you run into every day. How I would love to just drag you down into my domain and experiment on your feeble little body, I could do it there isn't much that is stopping me right now."**

This causes Zoro to tense up and grab the hilt of his blades just in case he did try to do something to him, Satan chuckles at this,

**"After that pathetic display do you really think a simple sword could do anything to me? You, humans, are just laughable!"**

Satan disappears and reappears right in front of Zoro, Zoro reacts but isn't fast enough as Satan's arm shoots forward and hoists him up by his neck.

**"See there's nothing you can do!"**

But at that Zoro's chest starts to glow glaringly bright, causing Satan to hiss and let go of him backing away from him. The light grows stronger forcing Satan back as he hatefully spits out a name,

**"MICHAEL!"  
**

Zoro looks at him oddly before placing a hand over his chest to feel the energy, he narrows his eyes before looking back up at Satan who was glaring at the energy that was coming out of Zoro's chest. Neither of them said anything as the energy slowly dissipated,

**"When the hell did you meet that detestable angel!"**

Zoro stayed silent while slowly snaking his arm to his blades,

**"ANSWER ME!"**

Zoro is blasted back by the energy that Satan released in his anger, Zoro remains silent and this served to piss Satan off, even more, causing him to approach Zoro again intent on choking the information out of him. But he wasn't able as whenever he got close to Zoro the energy would emerge once again causing him to hiss and back away,

**"You got lucky this time, once I discover a way to separate you from Michael's protection I'll kill you!"**

With that Satan creates something that was similar to a black hole that slowly consumed his body before completely disappearing, with him gone Zoro finally relaxes collapsing backward to recover his breath.

"Are you alright, what happened?"

Zoro pops his head up to see Nazuna quickly making her way towards him, once he saw that it was her he dropped back down feeling completely exhausted.

"God I hate demons."

Nazuna doesn't say anything but he could feel her slightly judging look,

"Not you ok."

The look lessens a bit as she still remains silent as she helped him up and gave him some water, she lets him rest for a bit longer before asking again,

"So what did happen? Everything was going fine then all of a sudden I feel intense energy and rush over to find you on the ground trying to recover your breath as demonic energy slowly dissipates from the area."

Zoro sighs and leans up against one of the rocks and steadies his breath,

"Satan paid me a bit of a visit, not very fun I must say. Though from his visit I learned that Michael left a little something in me seeing as when he got his hands on me some energy shot out through my chest that kept him away."

Nazuna pokes his chest a few times to test it out but nothing seemed to happen so she stopped and looked at him oddly,

"Quite odd this is, can you recreate this energy?"

Zoro shakes his head,

"When it first came out I didn't do it on my own accord it just kind of happened. Honestly, since you brought me back to life I felt like there was something off with my body so I guess this is what it was, Michael placed a something within my body which I only assume keeps away demonic energy to a certain degree."

Nazuna nods,

"Well besides that, there does not appear to be any more demons roaming around here that serve Satan."

Zoro grins,

"Well that's good, I really don't want to run into him anytime soon again. What of your abilities?"

Nazuna ignites two flames in her hands a black one in her right hand and a white one in her left hand,

"So far what I know of is my control of demonic and holy flames, I possess the ability to change these flames into any shape then to harden them so that they are physical items. The two energies don't seem to be combating each other which is good, I am able to also mold an avatar of sorts that uses both kinds of energy and possesses immense power as I have tested."

Zoro looks at her confused,

"Avatar?"

Nazuna nods and focuses on the flames within her hand,

"This requires quite a bit of energy but I will show you."

The flames slowly circle around her slowly flowing up to create a giant figure, Zoro whistles slightly impressed,

"How powerful is it?"

Nazuna points towards a giant boulder sitting about fifty meters from them, her avatar slowly forms a white crossbow and notches a black arrow. After steadying the weapon for a few moments she releases the shot which completely destroys the boulder not leaving even a trace of it ever existing. Zoro whistles again,

"Impressive."

But when he turns towards her, he sees that the avatar was slowly dissipating as Nazuna collapses. He rushes over and catches her before she slams into the ground, she was sweating profusely and barely seemed strong enough to stand,

"I'm sorry but that ability drains most of my energy, I must train myself to be stronger so that I won't collapse after just one attack."

Zoro shakes his head,

"You don't need to push yourself so much, there's no rush to get stronger, just go at your own pace."

Nazuna nods as Zoro helps her stand, Zoro thinks for a few moments before speaking,

"Hey, Nazuna I want to try something."

Nazuna nods at this, Zoro quirks an eyebrow but decides not to bother asking right now as he opens his palm and places it parallel to Nazuna. He closes his eyes and focuses on the feeling when he had first encountered Nazuna, once there he concentrated all the residual energy into his palm.

"Come!"

At that Nazuna broke into shadows and reformed in his hand as a black blade with a white hilt, Zoro grins at this and studies it taking a few swings so to get the feeling of the blade. Turning around he notices a boulder and faces it bringing the blade above his head, taking a deep breath, he brings the blade down in an overhead strike. The boulder was split cleanly in half, Zoro brings the blade up to his face studying a bit more before trying to ignite the holy flames that Nazuna was able to. Much to his surprise it worked and unsure of what the flame was able to do he directed it towards one of the two parts of the boulder, he directed the flames towards it to watch what the results of doing so were. The flames simply sat on the boulder not doing anything much to his disappointment,

"The holy flames are meant to ward away demonic spirits and heal those, not to harm people."

Zoro pauses for a second before looking at Nazuna in her bladed form,

"Was that you Nazuna?"

Nazuna's face appears on the blade,

"That was not me, I have been a bit too exhausted to do much."

Zoro lets go of Nazuna allowing her to transform back into her human form,

"Then who was that?"

The voices giggles,

"Well, it's me, Michael!"

Zoro grumbles,

"Why are you here?"

But Michael was already gone leaving him alone, he growls at this and slowly helps Nazuna up as they head back towards the Revolutionary base.

"You can go rest now."

Nazuna who was exhausted bows to him without saying anything and disappears to where ever she goes whenever she's alone and Zoro heads back to the room he shares with Robin. He had been out for a few hours and Robin should have been gone already, he stumbles into the room to find Warpclaw sitting at the foot of the bed waiting for him. He squawks at Zoro but is ignored seeing as Zoro just wanted to rest, but as he was about to jump into the bed Warpclaw bites onto the back of his shirt and drags him off in a random direction,

"Let go of me you cursed bird creature!"

Warpclaw ignores him and continues to drag Zoro through the halls of the Revolutionary army base surprising many people after a while Warpclaw seemed to arrive at his destination as he slowed to a stop and flung Zoro forward. Zoro turns towards Warpclaw and gives him his harshest glare,

"Do that to me ever again and you'll wish that the dragons on that island had killed you."

He turns away from him and looks around the room to see where he was when he noticed the dragon egg that Asaka took which was sitting on the bed of the room. Zoro narrows his eyes at the egg before turning back at Warpclaw with a confused look,

"Why did you bring me here?"

Warpclaw simply squawks and backs up, Zoro turns back to the egg hearing a sound coming from it. He pauses for a second before walking closer to the egg studying it,

"Is it just me or is the egg moving?"

He didn't expect a response from anything as he kept an eye on the egg for any more movement, after a few more moments later Zoro slowly lost interest and sighed before turning around. But before he could leave the room he hears a crack, pausing he turns around and stares at the egg. Looking at the egg again he sees that the egg had a crack in it,

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Zoro continues to keep an eye on the egg as the crack slowly started to grow, he watched in fascination as the egg blasted open forcing Zoro to cover his eyes so to block the pieces of the egg that flew at him. Once he determined that it was safe he removed his hand and looks at the spot where the egg had been, what remained was the small body of a dragon.

"What was that?!"

Zoro turns around to see Asaka and a few Revolutionaries rushing into the room,

"THAT was the hatching of the dragon egg you brought from that island. Quite explosive isn't it, huh?"

Asaka gives him an odd look before looking at the center of the explosion to see the body of a small dragon that was yawning, she turns towards him with a slightly guilty look on her face.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this am I?"

Zoro glared at her,

"Yea."

**That's a wrap, this chapter simply served to push forward the whole Satan ****plot line. Like as you can see Zoro can't do jack shit to him so far, like most of the time I have Zoro just steamrolling most of his opponents but as much bullshit I can pull even I think given Zoro some way to defeat Satan would be a bit too much. Though you never know I may be able to come up with something that isn't a Deus Ex Machina, though I doubt I could come up with anything that could achieve this so I'll have to find a way for Zoro to survive his next and final hostile encounter with Satan. I'm slowly getting back into the habit of making the chapters and I'm happy about this, but that's going to slow down again seeing as exams are coming up and I am in no way prepared for it so I'm going to be trying to study my ass off so I don't fail anything, which will lead to a bit of a pause for two maybe three weeks after this chapter. I'm a bit sad about it seeing as I'm actually starting to get back into the habit but that's what's going to happen. But once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	38. A Discovery

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

He glared at her as the newly hatched dragon sleepily yawned on her lap, she gives him a sheepish smile hoping that he would be a bit lenient on this. But Zoro wasn't having any of it,

"First the Griffin now this?"

She gives him a weird look and points a finger at him,

"Hey, for your information that Griffin has been very helpful in our journey, and he's right behind you."

Zoro doesn't turn around not letting his glare falter even for a second, this causes Asaka to shrink a bit under his harsh gaze.

"I thought you already knew about this."

Zoro angrily sighs and takes a seat across from her,

"Just because I knew about it doesn't make me any less happy about it."

Asaka hugs the baby dragon harder causing it to give off a cute squeak,

"Now, now there's no need to be so hard on her, most people would never give up a chance to have a pet dragon."

Zoro turns around to see Robin walking into the room with her usual smile on her face,

"She can do whatever she wants but if that has a negative impact on me then I'll stop it."

Robin furrows her brows,

"How does a dragon negatively impact you?"

Zoro snorts,

"Now instead of dealing with one mythical beast and a child, I have to deal with two mythical beasts, a child, and a demon of my creation."

Asaka retorts,

"I am not a child!"

Zoro rolls his eyes and turns back to her,

"You're a naive little brat that can't accept the reality of the world."

Asaka looks like she wants to respond but quiets down knowing that in a way he was right, Robin puts a hand on his shoulder,

"Demon of your creation?"

Zoro snaps his fingers, shaking his index finger at her,

"Yea I forgot about that. Well, do you remember when I was revived this shadowy figure appeared?"

Asaka and Robin both nod slowly,

"Well, that was Nazuna a demon I created when I died. The energy that Micheal planted into my system so to remove the demonic blood I had instead merged together to create her."

Asaka looked completely confused while Robin contemplated what he just revealed to her,

"Can you call her now?"

Zoro nods,

"Nazuna!"

After a few seconds, the shadows in the room collected forming Nazuna who was on one knee bowing to Zoro,

"Yes, Master Zoro?"

Zoro looks at her oddly,

"I thought I told you not to call me master."

Nazuna gets up from her bow,

"Yes, you did. But this is simply what I chose to do in respect for you, my creator."

Zoro sighs lazily and leans back on his chair,

"Well Robin, ask away."

Robin nods at him before turning to Nazuna,

"What are you?"

Nazuna turns towards her before responding,

"I am a creature that was created from conflicting powers and lives only to serve my creator."

Robin quirks an eyebrow and turns towards Zoro who shrugs at her,

"What abilities do you currently possess?"

Nazuna ignites the two flames in her hands showing it to Robin,

"I have a certain degree of control over both the energies that were used to create me, but besides that so far I am unsure of any other abilities I possess."

Robin furrows her brow digesting everything that she was told, while she was doing this Zoro turned back to Asaka this time with more of an annoyed expression rather than a glare,

"You're a huge pain in the ass sometimes you know that."

Asaka sticks her tongue out at him and is about to retort when the dragon jumps out from her grasp, shooting towards Zoro. The dragon wraps itself comfortably around Zoro's neck before he could even react,

"What the hell?!"

It gives off a yawn as it curled around him before falling asleep on Zoro, he tilts his head and reaches to remove the dragon from his neck but is stopped by Robin and Asaka who have both gripped onto his arm. He frowns at this,

"What are you doing?"

They shush him an answer in a hushed tone,

"Let it rest, it just hatched."

His frown turns into an irritated glare, but he doesn't say anything rather letting the dragon rest on his body as he searched for a spot for him to unwind after a very tiresome day. Unfortunate for him the base was very lacking in many comfortable spots, so he had to make do with one of the many boulders surrounding the base. As he settled down he could feel his body creaking from the strenuous activities he had throughout the day, he was careful not to let crush any part of the dragon that was curled around his neck. He sighed and observed the sky above him in an attempt to distract himself from everything that was burdening him, he let out a deep sigh,

"Thing's are not going the way I was hoping it would."

He heard a very familiar voice snort,

_"Get over yourself, you're nothing special."_

He rolls his eyes and sarcastically responds,

"Gee, thanks for the encouragement."

Instead of Volron, it was Ashura that responded,

_"You should have known from the beginning that this was never going to be easy."_

He sighs once more and scratches the back of his head,

"Yea I know, but still never thought I would have to deal with so many fucking demons."

Ashura lightly chuckles at him,

_"Even I was surprised at the unpredictable amount of demons that were drawn towards the energy I had given you."_

At that Zoro jolted up,

"That's right, I was also going to ask about Nazuna."

_"Ahh, that little mixed servant of yours?"_

Zoro nods,

"Yea, how the hell did that end up happening?"

He could hear Ashura sigh,

_"Even I am unsure of how she was created, I know as much as you do. But I am still looking into how such conflicting powers could merge like that, to not only create something new but an energy that was sentient."_

Zoro sighs and leans back onto the boulder, he hears a squeak and feels the dragon that was nestled around his neck shift around. He lifts his hand and rubs the tops of its head soothing it, it lets out what seemed to be a purr of sorts before settling down once again.

"Until you get strong enough to defend yourself you're going to stick around me now I guess."

It squeaks in response, shooting out a small and weak column of flames. Zoro lightly chuckles at his and rubs its head once again,

"You've still got a ways to go little one."

It snuggles in and falls asleep, Zoro stays by the boulder for a few more minutes enjoying the peace and quiet. But eventually, he would head back to the base, once back instead the first person he ran into was Dragon and he saw an ample opportunity to make a terrible joke.

"Hey, Dragon!"

Dragon turns towards him,

"Hmm?"

Zoro points to the dragon curled around his neck,

"Dragon meet dragon."

Zoro's smile didn't falter for a second as Dragon stared back at him blankly, Dragon simply turns around and leaves not even acknowledging his joke. But Zoro still got a bit of a laugh out of it, with his mood slightly elevated he heads back to his room so to get some actual rest for the day. He slowly makes his way through the empty halls of the base but once again senses a presence,

"You still monitoring me?"

Once again a rift forms in the wall and the hooded figure walks out,

"That is my mission so of course I would."

Zoro doesn't even spare the figure a glance and continues on while talking,

"Then did you know what happened?"

The figure responds,

"If it has nothing to do with Satan then I could care less."

Zoro chuckles at this,

"Then I'm going to say you're doing a terrible job of watching me if you didn't notice when Satan appeared and proceed to completely obliterate me."

The figure stiffens,

"Satan appeared?!"

Zoro stops and turns around giving the figure an annoyed look,

"Yea, how much of what I said did you not get?"

The figure starts fidgeting and frantically looking around before deciding on what to do,

"I-I'll contact you again!"

With that, the figure races back into the rift and the rift disappears, Zoro quirks an eyebrow at this,

"What was that?"

But he just shrugs and continues on his way, after a few moments he finally reaches his room to see Robin once again reading a book on the bed. She looks up and smiles at him,

"It seems to have taken a liking to you."

Zoro blinks a bit confused before remembering that the dragon was snuggled up against his neck, he reaches up and gently removed the still sleeping dragon from his neck and placed it onto the bed. He then proceeded to get into the bed himself letting himself completely relax so to recover from the events that had transpired during the day, Robin returned to her book but still watched him from the corner of her eye,

"So I noticed that you were a bit beat up when I last saw you, did anything happen?"

Zoro rolls over,

"Well, I met Satan who then proceeded to stomp my face in."

Robin blinks at him,

"Satan? Stomp your face in?"

He grumbles a bit annoyed at how one-sided their fight was,

"Yea, another demon's after me. While I was training he just appeared and when we fought I couldn't even touch him."

Robin furrows her brow obviously worried for him,

"It appears that your next opponent is going to be the strongest one yet."

Zoro sighs,

"Yea, I know. I'm not even sure how I'm going to defeat him if it even is possible."

She lowers her book and closes it, turning towards Zoro. She puts a comforting hand on his shoulder,

"Don't worry about it, things will turn out just fine. Just like it always has, just keep your wits and you'll persevere one way or another."

He gives her a fake smile before rolling over to try to get some sleep, but his attempts are for naught as his mind was plagued by thoughts of the humiliating defeat that he suffered from Satan and how difficult it would be to escape him, not even getting started on how he would defeat him. He would stay still throughout the night as the thoughts on how inadequate his current strength was and the anger he felt towards himself for how little progress he was making through his inertia. After a few hours, he rolled over to check if Robin was asleep before crawling out of bed and leaving the room. Before he would exit he was startled as a creature shot towards him and wrapped itself around his neck, he focused his eyes downwards to see that it was the dragon once again curled around his neck. He gives it a blank look before exiting the room with it nuzzling him, he navigates through the gloomy halls before exiting the base. He spaces himself from it and finds a secluded spot that was far enough that no one would be able to hear him as he trained seeing as it was still dark out. He detaches the dragon from his neck and it gives off a low hiss in response, but he ignores this and turns towards the largest boulder in sight. He gives it a moment before digging his fingers into the boulder causing a few cracks it in, taking a deep breath he strains himself to heave the boulder up above his shoulders. The area around him rumbled as the boulder was slowly being lifted out of the ground, this startled the dragon as it gave a panicked squeak before retreating away from him. He didn't expect the boulder to be rooted so deep into the ground but still continued on using the boulder as a weight for him to train with, once above his head he used all of his strength and chucked it up. Once in the air, he unsheathed Wado Ichimoji and took off from the ground, focusing his power into his arms as he attempted to slash the boulder. But the sheer size of the boulder stopped him from doing so as his blade would only get so far, the boulder slowly started to descend as Zoro's blade still remained within the boulder. Zoro grit his teeth and pulled it back before striking once again with a yell. This time he was able to slice through the entirety of the boulder and he steadied himself on the split boulder before jumping to the side to avoid it. Once on the ground, he glared at the boulder then at the blade within his hands,

"Not enough!"

He spins around and dashes towards one part of the split boulder and proceeds to dice the entire side several times over,

"Hono no Tatsumaki!"

All the bits of the boulder are charred and Zoro turns around and aims his blade at the other side of the boulder,

"Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

The bolt of fire rockets towards the boulder and tears a hole straight through it, he then proceeds to dash towards it,

"Ashura no Kohai!"

Swinging his blade in a wide arc, he completely destroys the boulder in a powerful strike. With both boulders destroyed he stands there silently before breaking into a scream of outrage and gripping his head violently, while this happened the dragon returns and lightly poked his side. He turns towards it with a saddened gaze, it squeaks at him before running to one of the remnants of the destroyed boulder. Zoro watches with a curious look, the dragon opens his mouth directing a roar and a bright white flame at it. Once done Zoro saw that the rock had melted slightly, but turns his attention to the dragon which was panting with its tongue stuck out, his tail also wagging imitating an excited dog. He lightly chuckles at this as the dragon came bounding towards him, he affectionately rubs the head of the enthusiastic reptile. He uses this to distract himself as the negative thoughts still ran rampant through his mind, despite the strength he just displayed. But through those thoughts a memory resurfaced, it was when he was struck down by Kuma and was close to dying. He clearly remembered that Ashura had revealed something in those few moments, narrowing his eyes he gently pushes the dragon back inciting a low hiss from it once again, but he ignores this and distances himself from it. Once he determined that he was far enough he got to work, he tugged at all the demonic energy that resided within him and focused it on his palm. This forms a maelstrom of dark energy in his hands, he was straining to control it all and focus it into a feasible shape. After many minutes of him fighting the power, it finally conceded and allowed him to shape the energy into an orb. With the concentration of dark energy within his palm he compresses it more to imitate what he had seen Ashura display,

_"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU FOOL!"_

He ignores this knowing that if he were to even lose concentration for a moment it could very well cost his life,

_"YOU DON'T POSSESS THE CONTROL OR THE WILLPOWER TO FABRICATE SUCH A POWER!"_

Zoro strains himself to speak,

"You think I don't know? This may be dangerous but one must learn from the mistakes of the actions that they undertake, that is how one grows."

Ashura is silent leaving Zoro alone in his perilous endeavor, he continued to compress the orb more and more before feeling that he could do so no longer. He stayed vigilant with what was literally a living timebomb less than an inch from his body, he inspected it a bit feeling something off with the orb. He is shaken from his thoughts by a sudden unexpected yell,

_"DISTANCE YOURSELF FROM IT NOW!"_

Without a second though Zoro grips the orb in one hand and chucks it as far away as possible, a few moments after doing so the orb explodes releasing an explosion that seemed to rock the entire island. Zoro loses his balance and falls backward gripping the ground to stop the shaking, his heart beating wildly with both with alarm and excitement. After a few seconds, the shaking finally stops and Zoro waits anxiously for the dust to settle, and the sight that meets him is something that could bring nothing but crazed exhilaration. His energy had torn apart a large part of the land forming a massive crater that spanned father than his eyes could see, he could Revolutionaries set off alarms thinking that this could be an attack but he ignores this and continued to stare dumbfounded at the sheer destruction that the one ability had caused,

_"I warned you not to mess with such power."_

Shaken from his stupor he grins,

"What are you talking about, I now possess the knowledge to create a weapon of mass destruction. How is that in any way a negative thing?"

He could hear Ashura sigh,

_"This is not some simple toy for you to play around with, the consequences, if you were to do this incorrectly, would be immeasurable."_

Zoro stands up and dusts himself off, his grin only growing wider with time,

"Then I just have to perfect to the point where a mistake is impossible."

Ashura leaves Zoro alone knowing that no matter what he said it wouldn't change his mind. Zoro quickly makes his way towards the crater so to get a closer look and as he got closer he felt a weird sensation from his right hand, the feeling only grew as he got closer to it. But he ignored it and continued towards the crater, finally reaching it he peers into to see just how expansive the damage was. Though he was met with another surprise as the weird sensation in his right arm finally became unbearable, he gripped his arm roughly in hope to quell the burning sensation but instead is surprised even more when not only did the tattoo on his arm grow larger but the remaining demonic energy that he had expended on the ability started to gather into his palm once again. He could only watch in fascination as the energy returned to his body revitalizing him, he brings his arm up inspecting it with a massive smirk on his face. He sticks the arm out and focuses on the energy once again and watches as the tattoo on his arm lights up, smiling to himself he attempts to recreate the orb and finds it much easier to do so this time. But instead of letting it grow unstable he quelled it completely by devouring it with his palm,

"Well, it seems like I found a way to train this."

With newfound power, Zoro turns around and makes his way back to the base with a happy smile on his face, but before he could reach the base the dragon once again slams into him and curls up around his neck. He grumbles a bit starting to feel an itch on his neck from being repeatedly slammed into and with the scales of the dragon rubbing up against it. But ignoring it he continues and is met with a fully armed squad of Revolutionaries, all looking disheveled most likely due to them being awoken at this ungodly hour.

"What the hell happened?!"

Zoro grins and walks past putting a hand on the lead Revolutionary's shoulder,

"Don't worry about it, it's not an attack."

They look at him suspiciously but Zoro simply ignores them and continues on his way, as he got closer to the base he saw more and more squads of Revolutionaries setting off towards the sight of his orbs detonation. He simply ignored them and went on his way, but is finally stopped when he is confronted by Sabo,

"What the hell happened?"

Zoro gives him a cheeky grin,

"Just a bit of training, nothing you guys have to worry about."

Sabo crosses his arms obviously not amused,

"Well, if it rocked an entire island then I'm pretty sure it's something that will cause worry."

Zoro shrugs him off and heads towards his room finally feeling a bit free from his thoughts,

"It isn't something I'm going to try again on this island so there truly isn't anything for you Revolutionaries to worry about."

Quickly making his way through the halls he finally stops when finds a nice little quiet spot to speak,

"Ashura, you there?"

He could hear a grumble from within his head,

_"Yea, I am. What do you want?"_

Zoro chuckles at him,

"You don't seem to be in a good mood."

Ashura scoffs at him,

_"No shit, you're causing me a colossal headache."_

Zoro's smile doesn't falter for even a second,

"Well, besides that. What was the name of the thing I just did?"

Ashura responds with an annoyed tone,

_"That was Genshi Shokku, a powerful move that could destroy as you have seen and healing like we did to you back at Thriller Bark."_

Zoro raises his hand and stares at it with an interesting glint in his eye,

_"Though its destructive power is much stronger, its healing ability can cause as much or even more harm, though not to an area but a singular person. So do use this ability to heal sparingly, it is much more difficult to heal one with this power than it is to destroy."_

Zoro nods solemnly,

"I'll remember that."

He finally arrives at his room, he enters and jumps onto the bed with a relieved sigh.

"Are you going to explain what happened?"

He flips over surprised that he wasn't alone in the room and tenses up but relaxes once he sees that it was just Robin and Asaka who were both looking at him expectantly. He rubs the back of his head sheepishly,

"Who said I had anything to do with this?"

Robin crosses her arms over her chest and gave him an unimpressed look,

"You're just like Luffy, you attract trouble wherever you go."

He sits up and chuckles,

"I take offense to that, Luffy attracts more trouble than I ever could."

Robin rolls her eyes but a smile graces her face,

"It isn't a competition, but you're avoiding the question."

He nonchalantly responds,

"Was just training."

At this, she quirks an eyebrow,

"You're a swordsman, what would prompt you to create such a massive explosion that could rock the island?"

He lay back down on the bed putting his hands behind his head giving off an air of a person who didn't just tear a gigantic hole in the ground,

"Was just testing something out and it didn't go the way I thought it would, I was far away enough from the base so that the damage that it would sustain would be minimal."

Robin sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose,

"That still doesn't answer my question."

He waves her off and relaxes back into the bed,

"Was trying a new ability, became unstable so I chucked as far away as possible at the point when it detonated. So yea, I caused it but nobody got hurt from it and the base was mostly unaffected so I don't see anything wrong with what happened."

She opens her mouth to say something but stops when she notices that Zoro was already fast asleep, she puts her head on her hand and gives him an annoyed look,

"He's quite a difficult person to deal with isn't he?"

Asaka turns towards her and pouts while nodding her head rapidly, Robin giggles at this and rubs the top of her head like she was a puppy eliciting a hug from her.

"We should go to sleep."

With that Asaka gives a cute little yawn which causes Robin to pull her into a hug and smush her as they left the room. Once they leave Zoro pops one eye open to make sure that they were gone,

"What are you doing here? Weren't you going to deal with the information I gave you?"

At this, a person emerged from the shadows from the corner of the room, it was the same person that had appeared earlier from the rifts. The figure looks to be shaking a bit but Zoro ignores this and stays vigilant in his position so to make sure that the figure wouldn't try anything. After a few moments, the figure calms down and speaks,

"You have no idea how difficult what you achieved is."

Zoro quirks an eyebrow and sits up giving the figure a confused look,

"How difficult to achieve? What did I do?"

The figure took a hard step forward,

"You encountered Satan, that means you somehow caught his attention! He'll keep coming back until he finishes what he wants or loses interest in you, we can use that to track him down and kill that bastard once and for all!"

Zoro gives the figure a blank stare before returning to his laying position,

"Not interested."

The figure pauses for a moment before reacting in an outburst,

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! THIS ISN"T AN OPPORTUNITY THAT COMES UP OFTEN YOU SHOULDN'T WASTE IT!"

Zoro gives the figure a lazy look,

"What does that mean?"

Zoro's nonchalant attitude towards something in which they believed was a breakthrough was grinding at the figures nerves,

"Get it through your thick skull! This isn't something we can just pass up! This could be a once in a lifetime chance!"

Zoro narrows his eyes at the figure,

"Don't go lumping me together with you and your little organization, I have no desire to seek out that miscreant in any way or form."

The figure charges forward and grabs Zoro by the hem of his shirt and pulls him up, putting his face dangerously close to Zoro's,

"NOW YOU LISTEN HERE, I DON'T CARE IF YOU WANT TO OR NOT YOU WILL HELP US!"

Zoro finally looks at the person with a dangerous glint in his eye,

"Don't test me, I am not a very forgiving person. Once I deemed you to be pushing things too far I will not hesitate to cut you down where you stand."

The figure opens their mouth to speak but stops when Zoro hovers a hand over the hilt of his blade and reaches his other hand up to crush the hand that was gripping onto his shirt, the figure retracts with a hiss at the pain that erupted from the hand that was crushed.

"There's no way in hell I'll help you if I don't even know who you are."

The figure eyes Zoro with a glare but is cautious due to Zoro's hand hovering over his blades,

"My name is Hilde."

Zoro quirks an eyebrow not exactly happy, he brings his hand up and moves it in a circular motion indicating to her to elaborate. She groans a bit before continuing,

"I am part of a group that sets out to destroy demons and the one that stands at the top of the list is Satan himself, we are called the Six Wings."

Zoro chuckles at this,

"Well, do you know that I'm also a demon of sorts."

This instantly put her on edge as she hopped back and flipped her cloak reaching for something, Zoro wouldn't let her as he charged forward faster than she could react, unsheathing one of his blades and placing it right up against her neck causing her to tense up.

"Ahh ahh ahh, I wouldn't do that. Now, how about you drop your weapons and we'll have a nice little talk."

She glares at him,

"I WOULD NEVER NEGOTIATE WITH YOU DEMON SCUM!"

Zoro sighs at this,

"Should have just listened."

He quickly rears a fist back and slams it into her face knocking her out cold, he tosses her limp body onto the floor and sits down in a chair looking down on her.

"Now what to do with you."

**That's a wrap, I was supposed to finish this chapter the week earlier but I got swamped with work seeing as Finals are coming soon. UGHHH, so all my teachers are just dumping all the work now that the year is coming to a close and I've barely had any time to work on the fanfic which is sad but just give me a bit more time than usual and I'll still get it done somehow. When I started writing the first chapter for the time skip I was like, yea I'm going to keep a consistent timeline and make everything match a certain amount of time. But now I've just kind of given up on it so things may be a lot longer or shorter than I had first intended it to be. I have like two more ideas for the time skip, but I'm hoping for at least one more before I reunite the Strawhats. But with the introduction of the Six Wings I have another idea to add on that somewhat overlaps a previous idea I came up for the story, but I'll find my way around it eventually. But along with that I most likely won't update for the next week or two seeing as I have exams in 12 days which sucks, I'll still work on it but I doubt I'll be able to get far seeing as I don't want to fail anything. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	39. Enemy of an Enemy

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Hilde groaned as she was assaulted by a pounding headache, she tries to get up but finds herself unable to do so as something was restricting the movement in her arms. She starts to panic as she slowly comes to her senses and finds that her entire body was tied up, while gagged she lets out a few muffled screams of anger,

"Quite down already, making noise isn't going to help you here."

She rolls over and sees Zoro sitting across from the bed with a drink in hand rubbing his temple in annoyance, she once again lets loose a torrent of angered screams through her gag which only amounted to muffled noise to him. He glares at her,

"Draco, bite her."

She looks at him confused but reels back when what she assumed was some kind of pelt that was hung around his neck moved, Draco popped his head up and hopped off Zoro stretching a bit before bounding up the bed. At the sudden appearance of the little dragon Hilde rolls to avoid it and this resulted in her flying off the bed, Zoro chuckles at this and puts a hand up causing Draco to grind to a stop and settle onto the bed with a small yawn. Zoro stands up feeling his body creak from inactivity and walks over to where Hilde had fallen over, he squats down removing the gag from her mouth,

"Scream, yell, make any kind of noise that I don't allow and I'll lop your head right off."

Hilde glares at him but it was obvious that his words had an effect on her as she paled slightly and nods, Zoro gives her a cruel smile,

"Good now let's have a civilized conversation now."

He grabs one of her arms and drags her to one of the other chairs plopping her down, he sits in the chair across from her. They sit in silence as Zoro simply drank more and more and Hilde wasn't sure what to so. But after a few more moments Hilde couldn't take it anymore,

"If you're going to kill me then get it over with!"

Zoro glares at her,

"I don't kill people indiscriminately, I would have killed you simply due to annoyance but you brought up an interesting point before I knocked you out."

She glared at him before giving him a quizzical look,

"What is it?"

He brings out a small dagger that he had found in her cloak and idly twirls it on his finger,

"You said that your little group, the Six Wings, has been hunting down Satan. Though I don't know what prompted you or anyone else to do so I am willing to help you simply to remove his attention on me."

Hilde narrows her eyes,

"What are you playing at?"

Zoro shrugs and stabs the dagger into the wooden table in front of him,

"I'm not playing at anything."

She scoffs at this,

"Earlier you said that you didn't want anything to do with this, now you do?"

Zoro takes another swig of his bottle and gives a content sigh,

"I was simply testing what type of person you are, a hot-headed person like you will die easily if ever controlled by their emotions. Learn to reign it in less you wish to die an early death."

He glare intensifies as Zoro stands up,

"So are you going to agree or not?"

He sticks his hand out in a mocking way knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to shake it as she was still tied up, she growls at him and reluctantly replies,

"Fine!"

Zoro chuckles at this,

"Now that's the spirit."

He takes the dagger out of the table and walks towards her, he quickly cuts the rope that he had used to restrain her. In an instant she wretches the dagger from his grasp and places it right against his neck, Zoro rolls his eyes at this,

"Do I really have to do this again?"

Hilde holds the dagger in place for a few more moments before relenting, she grabs her cloak and opens a rift,

"I'm going to get you back one day, but until then we have business to get to."

Zoro gives her an insufferable grin,

"Good decision."

She growls at this but chooses to ignore it and heads into the rift, Zoro follows shortly after. He enters and is fascinated but the view that is before him, it was like a tunnel that showed the starry night sky surrounding them.

"Tch, is this impressive to you?"

Zoro continues to look around,

"Yea, this isn't something a normal person sees every day."

She scoffs at this,

"But you're not a normal person, you're a detestable demon."

Zoro turns towards her and quirks an eyebrow,

"I didn't explain that part did I?"

She looks at him confused,

"Explain what?"

Zoro chuckles,

"I'm not an actual demon I possess demon power, yes, but I am not physically a demon."

She looks even more confused,

"How does that work?"

Zoro ignites a black flame in his palm,

"I was given these powers by a certain demon, not Satan mind you, but a different one that simply wishes for me to cause destruction in this world."

She crosses her arms across her chest,

"If you cause destruction throughout the world then we the Six Wings will stop you."

Zoro laughs at this,

"You do remember that you were knocked out by a single one of my punches right?"

She grows red at this,

"There are more powerful people than me and they can surely defeat you!"

Zoro waves her off with a smile on his face,

"I wouldn't count on it if I was you."

She fumes at this and starts screaming insults at him but Zoro tunes her out to enjoy more of the magnificent view that he is given, after a few moments they emerge from the rift. He is met with what seemed to be an underground citadel filled with people, he looks around curiously but Hilde grabs his arm violently,

"Let's get going!"

Zoro gives her his cocky grin,

"No need to be so rough."

She groans loudly at this,

"Can you just shut up until we get there?!"

He chuckles at this then stays silent as she leads him through the building, eventually, they would arrive at two giant brass doors. Zoro quirks an eyebrow at this and opens his mouth to say something but Hilde hushes him and knocks on the door, he waits patiently as the doors open revealing a large table with seven seats that were all filled by odd-looking people. Hilde gets onto one knee and bows to them as Zoro continued to study the group of misfits, the person sitting at the end of the table stood up and gave him a wide grim smile,

"We've been waiting for you."

Zoro cautiously takes a step forward,

"So who the hell are you guys?"

The man at the end gives a hearty laugh at Zoro's response,

"I am Goda the strategist of the Divine Six Wings!"

Zoro gives him an odd look,

"Divine Six Wings?"

Hilde finally gets up from her bow,

"They are the six strongest people of the organization!"

Zoro scans them over one more time as Hilde continues,

"Hailed as the strongest among them Ban the Berserker!"

Zoro watches as a man with a burly figure stood up and walked towards him, with him towering over Zoro quite a bit he looks down on him.

"You don't look that strong to me."

Zoro gives him a menacing look accompanied by a crazed grin, he hovers his hand over his hilt,

"Why don't you fight me then we'll see how things go."

But before they could fight they were interrupted by a dagger slicing up the space between them, they turn towards their assailant to see a hooded man leaning back with his feet on the table,

"The deadliest assassin of the lands No the Silent!"

Zoro turns towards Hilde with a deadpan,

"Great introductions."

Hilde didn't notice the sarcasm behind his words and beamed at this,

"Thanks."

With that, another one of the six took action rushing towards him with a blade at the ready. Zoro notices this and blocks the strike before counter-attacking, to his surprise the strike was deflected. He spaces himself from the man,

"The ever proud Seo the Samurai!"

Seo nodded at Zoro and sheathed his blade,

"A man is only defined by his strength, you are acceptable."

Zoro looked at his hand feeling a tingle from the strike that he had received, he grins at this, these people weren't all talk after all.

"You don't feel human."

Zoro turns towards the voice to see a young boy about the same age as Luffy with a wooden staff that gave off a dangerous feeling to him,

"The young prodigy Aoi the Magus!"

Zoro narrowed his eyes feeling on edge at the feeling that the staff gave off, but his stare broke when Ban spoke up,

"Don't ignore me, you puny person!"

Ban raises a fist and brings it down hoping to crush Zoro, but he was much slower than Zoro which allowed him to simply dodge the strike. Ban growls and charges at him intent on attacking again but several briar tendrils shot forwards and restricted Ban's arms stopping his charge.

"Now let's just all get along."

Zoro pauses and follows the briars back to a blond woman who was shooting the briars out of her palm,

"The absolute beauty Zest of the Earth!"

The now named Zest gives Zoro a wide smile and winks at him, Zoro gives her a questioning look before ignoring her and turning to the last of the six who hasn't said anything since he had arrived. Hilde once again dived into her introductions,

"Lastly the cool-headed Kano the Vindictive!"

Zoro gives Kano a jaded look and he received one back, but with the introductions over Goda spoke up,

"Since you know everyone, I think it's time to get down to business."

Ban grumbled and returned to his seat once Zest released her briars, Zoro crosses his arms,

"What do you guys want?"

Goda gives a chuckle which no longer sounded friendly,

"Straight to the point, I like that. Our organization was formed with the sole purpose of destroying all supernatural evils that plague this planet, you who has connections to the most evil of them all, Satan himself. With your help, we may be able to destroy him once for all."

Zoro gives them an indecipherable look,

"What do I get out of this?"

Goda narrows his eyes at him,

"What other reward is better than eradicating one of the evilest beings in all of existence?"

Zoro crosses his arms not looking impressed,

"He may be evil but has he tried to destroy the world or affect the world in such a manner that requires him to be destroyed?"

Goda splutters at Zoro's response,

"He's evil what other reason do we need to destroy that demon!"

Zoro doesn't change his stance, instead of Goda speaking up it was Aoi that decided to intervene,

"I don't believe it will be easy to get his help, especially with the scent of a demon surrounding him."

The moment he finished the phrase the entire atmosphere of the room changed, all of them, with the exception of Aoi, give him varying looks of anger or disgust.

"You're affiliated with those despicable creatures?!"

It was Ban which had said this in outrage, without a second thought he charged at Zoro intent on destroying him despite some of the reluctant protests from the other six. Zoro unsheathes his blades and strikes Ban with the back of his blades,

"Ashura no Kohai!"

The strike sends Ban flying into the wall cracking it, the reaction to this is the other six all reaching for their weapons. Zoro waves them off,

"Don't worry about it, I only used the back of my blades."

They all lessened their grips on their weapons but still kept them close just in case, Goda clears his throat,

"Though we may not have the right to ask you of anything especially with what we are requesting of you and what Ban had just tried to do, but we would like to understand how you came to possess the scent of a demon."

Zoro shrugs his shoulders,

"I run into a lot of demons on my travels, it's as simple as that."

Though they didn't seem to have completely bought his story he didn't relent, Goda sighs at this,

"Well anyways, we would still request that you would help us in the eradication of Satan."

Zoro thinks for a few moments as the group expect him to decline again,

"Sure."

There is an awkward silence before Goda speaks,

"What?! That easily?! But you didn't want to do it before!"

Zoro gives them a cheeky grin,

"Now when did I say that?"

With that, the group all let out their reactions to this news, Ban was still recovering from his strike and only gave Zoro a grunt. Seo and No both allow a smile to grace their face for a moment before descending back into their former blank looks, Kano grips onto his weapons with a crazed smile on his face, Aoi doesn't visibly react to this instead prompting to study Zoro, Zest jumps up and starts celebrating like a kid that just got a present, and Goda falls back into his chair with an exhausted sigh. Zoro turns around to see Hilde and gives her a surprised look,

"I forgot that you were still here."

She glares at him,

"I still don't like you."

Zoro rolls his eyes,

"And I don't care."

Goda clears his throat attracting Zoro's attention again,

"Though that still begs the question, how will you find Satan?"

Zoro thinks for a second,

"Do you guys have a tracking device of sorts? Or someone that can track a person down?"

Goda nods,

"Yea, No is a great tracker it comes with being an assassin."

Zoro nods,

"Good, just have to drag the bastard out again and we'll be in business."

Goda quirks an eyebrow at this,

"How would that help us track him down?"

Zoro grins,

"Well, he wants to use me for something, no idea what, but I'm not going to just give myself up without a fight. I am in no way delusional enough to believe that I can defeat him, but you guys can track the trail I leave behind so to find his base of operations."

Goda narrows his eyes,

"Are you sure it's going to work?"

Zoro shrugs,

"Who knows, I've never dealt with a demon this powerful before."

_"Hey!"_

Zoro ignores the voice in his head and continues,

"I'm going to be at the Revolutionary base until then, be prepared, in about four days I'll be starting."

Goda nods and Zoro leaves the room as Goda speaks privately to the Divine Six Wings,

"Hilde, take me back to the base."

Hilde scowls at him,

"Don't command me!"

Zoro rolls his eyes,

"I'm already helping your little group, don't make me change my mind."

Her glare deepens but she complies and leads him back to where they came,

"Why do we have to travel all the way here? You open rifts don't you?"

Hilde proceeds to open another rift before responding,

"Inside the citadel is a barrier that blocks out such powers, so I am unable to open a rift anywhere closer than here."

Zoro nods and walks into the portal and is met once again by the sight of stars, in his amazement he asked Hilde,

"Just why do you hate Satan so much?"

Hilde was caught off guard by this question and was having difficulty controlling her enraged expression,

"He took so much from me! I'll never rest until he's dead!"

Zoro gives her a troubled look,

"Then get stronger, cause as you are now you would simply be nothing but a stain in his path of destruction."

She took umbrage to his statement,

"I may not be the most powerful in the Six Wings, but I am still powerful in my own right!"

Zoro turns around and continues walking towards the end of the rift,

"I never said you weren't powerful, I simply mean that if you were to fight Satan at this moment you would be completely overwhelmed leading only to unnecessary death."

He didn't turn around to see her response to his words but just assumed that she would be glowering at him again, after a few more moments he reached the end of the rift and hopped out to appear back at his room. He collapses onto the bed releasing a content sigh,

"Finally, I can get some rest."

He peers back to see Hilde giving him an odd look before shaking her head before entering the rift again and disappearing, he rolls over and quirks an eyebrow at that before shrugging his shoulders and closing his eyes. He goes to sleep but isn't able to sleep as something slams into his stomach, he shoots up and groans searching for what hit him. He finds Draco sitting on his stomach with a smile on his face, Zoro flicks his nose and leans back down.

"Don't do that again."

He receives a squeak in response and goes to sleep with a small grin on his face.

~The Next Morning~

Zoro's eyes pop open and he stares at the ceiling for a few moments before groaning and getting up, he pushes Draco off him inciting a hiss from him which he ignored. He cracks his neck before dragging his body out of the bed, immediately Draco curled itself around his neck and he simply ignores this and heads out of the room. He silently roamed around the base watching the many activities that the Revolutionaries had, he didn't pay much attention to them as he continued on his way. He had dedicated the morning to recover all the energy he had used up from the prior day, he wasn't sure what time of day it was or what he was going to do for that time but he would figure everything out eventually. After a few more minutes of wandering, he would finally come across Asaka who was happily talking to Robin. He calls her,

"Hey, Asaka!"

She turns towards him and gives him a dirty look before answering,

"What do you want?"

Zoro rolls his eyes at this,

"I have to talk to you about something."

She drops her dirty look and has a questioning gaze before walking towards him,

"I think you should stay here."

She looks at him confused,

"What do you mean?"

Zoro sighs and rubs the back if his head,

"The next destination in my journey is a place that I don't believe would be safe to bring you, hell I'm not even sure if I could get out of there alive myself. So I think it would be a smart idea if you were to stay here with the Revolutionaries."

She gives him an unreadable look before answering,

"Ok."

Zoro quirks an eyebrow obviously surprised,

"Really?"

She nods,

"Yea, I've seen how dangerous the things you do are, so as I am now I would ultimately just get in the way."

Zoro nods his head surprised and puts a hand on top of her head,

"Well, maybe you have matured over this journey."

She pouts at this while Zoro continued to laugh and rub her head, finally he stops and turns towards Robin. She was simply smiling at him with a coffee in hand, he nods at her before turning around to leave the two of them alone again. He roams around once again searching for something to entertain him for a while, but he would find nothing that could entertain him so instead prompted to find a quiet corner to meditate. He would be undisturbed for a few hours which allowed him to recover completely, he would be interrupted by Hilde appearing from a rift once again. Zoro slowly opens his eyes and watches her,

"What are you here for?"

Hilde sighs,

"I don't want to be here as much as you don't want me to be here, but Goda sent me to inform you that we, the Six Wings, are prepared whenever you are ready to enact your plan."

Zoro nods,

"Is that all?"

She nods and turns around entering the rift again leaving Zoro alone, he gets up with a groan and heads further away from the Revolutionary base. He would have the next few days to train as much as he could before he would attempt to garner the attention of Satan and bait him into coming to him, and if he didn't train like hell then Satan would simply do away with him just like last time. He reaches his hand up and rubs Draco's head as he looked for a good place to train,

"This is going to be a long few days."

~Three Days Later~

Neither Robin or Asaka had seen Zoro for the past few days and they were growing quite worried at this situation, the only thing that indicated that Zoro was still alive was the fact that a few of the patrolmen had discovered many craters and slashes far from the base. Though as much as they searched they were still unable to find him, they were sitting together quietly sipping their drinks when Asaka had enough. She fell backward and groaned loudly,

"Where the hell is he?! He's going to leave soon and he doesn't even spend the rest of the time with us?!"

Robin chuckles at this but she was no less annoyed about this then she was,

"He does things his way, he tends to do something like this, though I didn't imagine he would be gone for the whole time."

Asaka continues to groan as Robin gives off a light sigh, their complaining is cut short as a Revolutionary burst into the room. They both turn towards him slightly confused as he catches his breath,

"He's back! The patrolmen spotted him heading towards the north entrance of the base!"

Both Asaka and Robin shoot up, racing out of the room they heard towards the entrance. They arrive to find nothing but a few Revolutionaries standing on guard, they're confused until one of the Revolutionaries points out a slowly approaching figure. They focus on the figure and notice distinct green hair that they couldn't mistake for anyone else but Zoro, they start to celebrate but stop once Zoro got closer. Upon closer inspection, they notice that Zoro was in a very bad state, he had multiple cuts covering his entire body leading to a massive amount of blood seeping out. He was slowly walking towards them with each step more sluggish than the last, Robin races forward worry clearly evident on her face. Through the blood enveloping his face, he gives her an exhausted smile,

"Hey, did you miss me?"

She gives a light chuckle but focused more on his wounds,

"What happened to you?"

Zoro struggles to swallow before responding,

"Just some training, just pushed myself a bit more than I usually do. I'll be fine with a bit of sleep."

Robin shakes her head with a small smile on her face,

"Wounds like these don't just heal overnight, we should get you to a doctor."

Zoro rights himself and waves her off,

"Bah, I don't need a doctor."

She gives him a look that showed that she wasn't going to let go of this, but instead of saying anything he simply took her finger and poked his chest. In that instant he groaned in pain and grabbed his chest, he looks up to see Robin giving him a somewhat smug look,

"Don't give me that look!"

She rolls her eyes,

"Let's just get you to a doctor."

He grumbles at this but doesn't argue as he was already far past his limit, every past him in a blur as he was jumping between consciousness. Eventually, he would give in and succumbs to his exhaustion, he wouldn't awaken for an unknown amount of time. He wakes up in an entirely new room he couldn't remember ever being in, he tries to get up but is stopped by a hand,

"Don't get up, I don't know what you did to your body but getting up right now would be nothing but detrimental to your body."

He cranes his neck to the side to see Hilde sitting there with an annoyed look on her face,

"Why are you here?"

She scoffs at this,

"I don't want to be here either, but Goda sent me here to keep an eye on you to make sure you don't die before we finish everything."

Zoro gives her a blank look before laying back onto the bed,

"How did you get in here?"

She scoffs at this,

"You know of my ability, that should explain everything."

He doesn't show any reaction to her words as he laid there, she furrows her brows at this,

"What happened to you?"

Zoro doesn't turn towards her and continues to stare blankly,

"Training went into an unexpected direction. Many things went wrong and many things went right, all that matters is that I'm still alive and I'm going to have to get things started soon."

She gives him an odd look but plays it off with a sigh,

"Well, rest now wouldn't want you to overwork and die."

Zoro sighs and closes his eyes to get some rest seeing as he still had one more day before would enact his plan, it was going to be a painful day to come and he was not looking forward to it. But until then he would have to recover unless he wanted to be riddled with even more pain when facing the most dangerous opponents he has ever faced. He didn't like this but he knew that doing this would be better for him, though he wouldn't be completely inactive during that time. He opened one eye to make sure that Hilde had left before dragging his body out fo the bed, once he put pressure onto his leg it buckled causing him to stumble. He grits his teeth as he hung onto the side of the bed and struggled to steady himself, after a few seconds he pushed himself up into a right position and slowly started walking towards the door.

"I think you should stop."

He snaps his neck around the room searching for the voice, after a few moments of searching he comes across Robin in the corner of the room with a slight smirk on her face as she watched him. He grumbles at her,

"When did you get there?"

She puts her book down and gives him a sweet smile,

"I've always been here, you just weren't paying enough attention to notice me."

He opens his mouth to say something but Robin interrupts him quickly,

"Now, get back into the bed you're in absolutely no condition to be moving around right now."

He opened his mouth to protest but she took a pencil and chucked it at him, the pencil smacked his right shoulder a spot where he had torn into while training, inciting a howl of pain and a glare directed towards her. She continues to smile at him,

"See told you so."

He grumbles and crawls back into the bed,

"You didn't have to throw a pencil at me, it still hurts."

She lightly chuckles at this and returns back to her book, they sit in silence for a few moments before Zoro speaks up,

"So what do you want? Cause I'm sure you aren't just here entirely to check up on me?"

She sighs a bit and turns towards him,

"You can't keep doing things like this, you're strong but your body can only hold out for so long before you inevitably push yourself too far, and once that day comes you will forever regret your prior decisions."

He gives her a narrow look,

"I understand what you mean, but without risk, I will never be able to achieve what I need and if that risk is my own health then so be it. But I will not slow down in my endeavor, my goal is one of the most important things to me and if I can't achieve that then I'm better off dead."

This struck a nerve as she jolts up and storms towards the door,

"Then I guess that none of us mattered to you either then! Well, have fun with your insane dreams!"

She slams the door behind her quickly not letting Zoro get a word in, he stares at the door with a tired gaze. This was not the way he wanted to leave but it wasn't going to be easy to change this especially with the remaining time he had left. He covered his eyes with the palm of his hands and lets out an exhausted groan, things were not going the way he wanted and he could do little to change it. Removing his hands he glares at the ceiling of the room before lessening his glare and slowly sitting up, he hovered his right hand over a few of his wounds and called out,

"Nazuna!"

Knowing his intent Nazuna did not assume a human form but instead stayed as the flames and slowly seeped into his injuries, he grits his teeth as he felt it working through his injuries. He concentrated on controlling the flame and its toll on him was evident through the beads of sweat trickling down his face, after a few moments he finally relents and falls backward,

"God, that was more exhausting than I thought it would be."

Nazuna gathers to the right of the bed and looks around for a moment before turning towards him,

"Of course such an action would drain you, you've barely had any rest for the past couple days and you got injured in so many ways. Your body was nowhere near healthy."

He rolls his eyes,

"Yea, I get that."

He flexes his arms to see if there were any outstanding injuries and when he found none he got out of the bed, with a hum he jumped through the open window landing silently outside of the base. He takes a quick peek around to make sure that no one saw him before taking off with Nazuna quickly following him,

"Are you sure this is how you want to leave them?"

Zoro sighs not slowing down for a moment,

"Not really, but there are more pressing matters to attend to We got a demon to bait out."

As he was saying this a black streak shot towards him, he grunted and stumbled a bit as the streak wrapped around his neck. He looked down to see Draco curled around him once again, he quirks an eyebrow at this,

"You sure you want to stick around for this?"

The little drake simple squeaks at him before laying its head down and keeping a sharp eye out on the area around him, he smiles at this but grinds to a halt when he is bombarded by a wave of energy. He puts a hand up to stop Nazuna who was behind him,

"He's here."

A red rift tore open from the ground and Satan slowly rose from the rift clapping like a cliche evil villain,

"Well, you don't need to bait me out cause I'm right here!"

Zoro hovered his hand over his blade and glared at Satan,

"Time for the fight of my life."

**That's a wrap this chapter took waaaaaay to long to finish, I've just had a stress-filled week, all-nighters on all-nighters, and three failed exams, not exactly a good week but not much different from any of my usual exam weeks.**** I'm almost done with everything and can almost resume working on the story on a more regular basis, though still going to be a bit slow as I get back into the habit of writing again especially with the multitude of health problems I have. Though I am heading back to my home country for the first time in two years so that's going to way down the amount of time as I enjoy the country again. Though my usual schedule of just sleeping around all day probably will allow me to work at the story with more efficiency than usual, though I'm not going to make any promises. On one last note, I'm just going to say that the image of Satan that I have would look a lot like Lucifer Morningstar, this is only because I bing watched through Lucifer right before exams and that's the image that comes up whenever I think of Satan. So if you're not sure how he looks like just search up Lucifer Morningstar. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	40. Plan Gone Awry

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Pain. That was all he could feel at the moment, he popped one eye open to be met with the grinning face of his tormentor.

"Ohhh, he's awake boss!"

He shut his eyes to try to block out the ringing in his head that came with the voice, the ringing grew stronger with every step down the stairs with those oh so familiar black loafers.

He lifted his head to be met with the fanged grin of Satan who was swirling a glass of champagne in his hand, "It does appear so my dear Harley."

He stops swirling the glass and takes a little sip before stopping right in front of Zoro's slumped body, he bends down so his face was mere inches away from his, with an insufferable grin covering his face.

"I could make this all stop you know." He pauses hoping to get a rise out of him but Zoro could barely muster enough energy to glare at him as he continued, "I could make you one of my elite soldiers of Hell, I could give you riches, women, and power beyond anything you could imagine. You simply have to submit to me, little swordsman, and all of it could be yours for the taking."

He stares at Zoro waiting for a reaction, unfortunately for him, Zoro wouldn't give him the satisfaction as he stayed silent throughout the ordeal. His grin drops and he gives a displeased sigh before sipping his champagne and kicking Zoro in the stomach causing him to give off a pained grunt.

He finishes his glass and tosses it to Harley and straightens his suit, "Well, it's your loss. Harley, do continue what you were doing dear."

Harley drops the glass into a bucket and salutes Satan as he leaves, once gone she grabs a dagger and turns towards Zoro with a crazed grin on her face.

"We're going to have so much fun you and me, so don't you dare squeal yet. Cause I want my fun last!"

He grits his teeth preparing for the torture that was about to ensue, now one might wonder where things went wrong in his plan, and the simple answer to that is the beginning.

* * *

-A Week Earlier-

"Just surrender little swordsman, you could barely defeat my henchmen Akathorn, what makes you think you could defeat me?"

Zoro unsheathes all three blades and gets into a ready position, "I don't, but I'm not one to give up when a battle isn't in my favor."

Satan grins at this, "My, how much fun I will have breaking your spirit, let us not dally any longer than a demon has things to do."

Zoro didn't need the invitation as he shot forward, "Jinsoku!"

In the couple days that he had spent away from the Revolutionaries he had greatly increased in every aspect of fighting, with this clearly evident with just how much faster he had closed the space between him and Satan. But this was far from enough as Satan was able to clearly see the strike coming towards him, the Devil swiped his hand up lazily and easily parried Zoro's strike away. Zoro was far from done as he regained his balance and spun around slashing at Satan's neck, the slash got close but the demon reacted fast grabbing the blade with his fingers stopping the momentum completely.

Zoro's eyes slightly widened, he knew Satan was strong but never imagined him to be this strong, he was pushing with all his might and Satan's fingers only barely shook under Zoro's immense strength. He quickly coated his blades in Haki just in case Satan tried to snap his blades, the Devil opened his mouth to say something but is interrupted when he is forced to dodge a column of white fire that barreled towards him.

He released Zoro's blade and jumped to the side to avoid it, allowing Zoro control of his blades once again, he glances down to see Draco still curled around his neck. Though for once Draco didn't seem in a joyous mood and was on edge glaring intensely at Satan, Zoro kept his eyes on Satan while slowly reaching up and lifting Draco off his neck.

"Nazuna take Draco away from here."

Nazune slowly walked forward and took Draco away from Zoro's grasp inciting a sharp hiss from the little beast, "Will you be fine Master?"

Zoro snorted at this, "Doubt it but this was something I had expected, give him to Robin and hurry back. I'm going to need everything to fight him."

Nazuna bows and quickly disappears, Satan scoffs and brushes his suit, "If that flame actually damaged my suit I would have that little pet of yours skinned and used as a carpet."

Zoro rolled his eyes, "Don't you live in hell, where there's fire everywhere?"

"So what? I'm fireproof but not all the stuff I have is." He scoffed.

Zoro grumbled as he finally came to the realization that a large number of his attacks may not work on Satan as a part of them involve the use of fire. He studied Satan who was lazily standing there searching for a possible weak point that he could exploit, though he found many vulnerabilities he was unsure if they would truly harm him as this was not a human he was fighting.

Knowing that standing around would get him nowhere he shot forward again, "Ashura Hakai!"

The strike was once again blocked by Satan but to both of their surprise Satan was pushed back a few inches, this put a smile on Satan's face, "Now, that is quite something, you actually managed to overpower me slightly. For that I applaud you but that will be all you will manage, so let us not waste time and hurry through towards your inevitable defeat."

He dashed forward and swung his hand in an arc acting like a blade directed at Zoro, it was a slow strike that Zoro had easily avoided but was blown back nevertheless as the sheer power behind the attack created a crevice where Zoro was standing before.

Zoro could only gape that at the destruction before he was forced back to his current situation by another strike from Satan, "Now now, just stay still and this will all be over soon."

Zoro didn't respond as he was concentrated on avoiding the lethal assaults targeted at him, there weren't many opportunities to attack as not only did he have to avoid Satan's attacks but the crevices that it left behind made it difficult for him to get a proper footing for a strong attack. Satan continued his onslaught with a sickly gleeful smile adorning his face, his smile would be wiped off his face when a black flame would barrel into him and force him back.

He searched around for his assailant furiously and finally noticed the flames slowly forming into the shape of a person, "Nazuna?!"

Satan picked himself off the ground and dusted himself, "Powerful but still far from enough to harm me even slightly."

Nazuna formed completely and stood in front of Zoro with flames encompassing her fists, "I would look again."

Satan gives her a confused look before turning towards his left side to see that Nazuna had actually managed to injure him as a slight bit of blood leaked from the minor scratch and burns on his side.

He used his finger to wipe up a bit of blood and looked at it surprised before flicking it away, "Interesting, maybe things won't be as one-sided as I had imagined. Hmm what am I saying? It'll still be one-sided but at least you were able to injure if ever so meager that damage was."

Zoro growled in annoyance but spared a glance to Nazuna, the black flames were able to damage Satan a bit so he would have to keep note of that if he was going to try to kill him. But this wasn't the time to hesitate anymore, the Devil was becoming impatient and if he was to mess up even slightly it could mean his life.

"Tamashi no Fujikome!" After a few moments, he had fully fused with Decimation and was ready to see how far he would be able to go in his current form. Dashing forward once again he lept high above Satan and struck, "Ashura no Kohai!"

The power behind the strike was evident as the ground cracked under the pressure but Satan stood stock-still with his arm raised above his head to block the strike, he shifts the blade to the side and smiled at him, "Is that all?"

Zoro snarled at him and jumped back studying Satan once again, the strike seemed to actually do more than Satan let on as his stance indicated that the strike had managed to hurt him seeing as he had retracted the arm he blocked with and switched it out for his other arm.

Zoro called out, "Nazuna!"

She simply nodded and dispersed into flames which collected onto his blades, getting into a ready stance he struck out once again as Satan lazily yawned waiting for his attack.

"Rengoku Oni Giri!"

This time Satan chose the smarter move but avoiding the attack instead of meeting it head-on, Zoro clicked his tongue in annoyance and chased after him as Satan continued to avoid the strike with a mocking grin on his face.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to defeat me, boy!"

The smug look on his face only served to infuriate Zoro, he pulls back this time knowing that he was getting nowhere simply by chasing the Devil around.

He takes a deep breath closing his eyes and concentrates, "Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

Satan pauses for a moment to watch as Zoro once again changes, he quirks an eyebrow at the extra limbs that Zoro now possessed. "Well, this is new. But how is this suppose to help you if you can't catch me?"

Zoro simply glared at him and crouched down, Satan scoffed and was about to say something but Zoro took this as his opportunity to strike, shooting off the ground with enough force to crack the spot where he was standing. Though he was fast it still wasn't enough to catch Satan by complete surprise as he had enough time to avoid the majority of the attack, with one of Zoro's nine blades only able to nick the side of his arm.

Satan inspects the cut with an irritated scowl on his face, "It seems I need to show you your place once again, prepare yourself, you've tested my patience for far too long you insufferable insect!"

This time Satan prompted to strike out himself instead of standing around and dishing out lazily attacks, this could either be exactly what Zoro needed or lead to his utter defeat. He watched carefully and timed his attack to meet Satan's head on, "Ashura: Ichibugin!"

The strike was completely overpowered by Satan's attack which was a simple flame covered punch, the strike caused Zoro back and made him cough up a bit of blood at the sheer force behind the simple strike. He looked down to see a fist-sized indent on his chest and a few small flames burning away at his shirt.

Satan gives a satisfied huff, "Give up already, we all know who's going to win so we're just wasting time and I'm not known for being a very patient person."

Zoro grits his teeth and steadies his breathing before standing up once again inciting an exasperated groan from Satan, this was truly getting on his nerves but he would still see it through.

"Come, my patience is wearing thin so hurry along with your whole determination and willpower schtick so I can drag you down to hell."

Zoro only stayed silent and prepared another attack as Satan continued to mock him, in a flash, he charged forward once again, "Ashura Hakai: Ajimasuburesu!"

This time Satan took the attack head-on, it managed to push Satan quite the distance back with Zoro pouring more and more power into it in hopes of landing a fatal strike onto the King of Hell. Finally, after a few moments, he slows down and takes a few heavy steps back and inspects Satan for an indication that his strike had managed to harm the demon. It would take a few moments but he would finally be able to spot the small tears enveloping Satan's body.

He cracks a small smile but that smile quickly fades when Satan stands up and looks at Zoro with enough ferocity to scare even Luffy. "Is that all, you insufferable pest!?"

Zoro opens his mouth to speak but is instantly silenced when Satan appears in front of him and grips him by the throat forcing his Ashura form and his fusion with Decimation to disperse.

"I've let you play your little game for far too long this ends now!"

Zoro struggles to speak, "N-Nazuna, get out of here now!"

He could sense the hesitation but Nazuna complied and fled quickly, Satan notices the mass of flames slowly retreating and raises his hand to strike at it. But Zoro manages to distract Satan while he was targetting Nazuna, "Knew it would have to come to this."

Satan pauses and looks at him confused, but Zoro ignored this and got to work, the tattoo on his right arm slowly growing larger to display what seemed like a dragon spitting flames out of his hand. With this he ignored his surroundings and focused completely on the task he was just about to undertake, pulling together all the remaining demonic energy he residing within his body.

Satan only gives him an odd look and starts rambling on, none of which Zoro was able to hear as his focus was elsewhere. Satan finally stops talking when he notices a small black orb in Zoro's right palm, he narrows his eyes at it trying to discern what it was.

When it finally dawned on him it was already too late, and with this realization, his eyes widen and he is met with the bloody grin of Zoro. "See you in hell you bastard, Genshi Shokku!"

The orb exploded and rocked the island, leaving yet another large crater. The Revolutionaries were alerted of this and quickly rushed over towards it but no one would be able to discern what had happened as the dust cloud was still settling after the attack. But within the crater coughing was heard as a figure emerged from the rubble, wiping the dust away it is revealed to be the slightly battered form Satan with an irritable look on his face.

"Didn't expect that, well too bad, he was powerful for a mortal could have used him. Though I still have to question where he learned such a thing." Satan's train of thought is interrupted when he spots something buried beneath the rubble, he focuses on it and smiles in glee as he recognized the bloody body of Zoro.

He walks towards it tossing away the few stones that were crushing Zoro's body and checks if he is still alive, and to his joy, the boy was indeed still alive, "I'm going to have so much fun with you."

He grabs Zoro's battered unconscious body and starts dragging him away as the dust starts to settle. As Satan was dragging Zoro's body away, the Revolutionaries finally arrived and started searching around the area for what would have caused this explosion.

Robin and Sabo peer into the crater from above, "This seems like the work of Zoro again."

Robin nods but stays silent as Sabo continues, "You should talk to him about reining in all that power of his. If this continues it could lead to the World Government discovering the base."

Robin still remained silent leading to Sabo casting a confused look towards her, "What's on your mind?"

Robin doesn't look away from the crater, "This is undoubtedly Zoro's work, especially how similar it is to the rest of the craters decorating the shores of the island."

Sabo nods and narrows his eyes, "But?"

Robin sighs and worriedly turns towards Sabo, "But, where is Zoro? We all knew that he was severely injured when he returned and now a crater appears this close to the base with splatters of blood decorating the bottom."

Sabo's eyes widen and he turns back to the crater to see that what she said was true, the bottom of the crater had many splatters of blood.

He turns back to Robin to see worry etched on her face as she continued to search for Zoro, he sighs and hops down to search for Zoro himself, "Don't worry Robin, Zoro is a tough guy I'm sure he's fine."

Robin nods but can't stop fretting over her missing friend, "I sure hope that what you say is correct."

As this conversation concluded a shadow hovering above the base quickly darted away, the shadow made its way inside the base towards one of the room and pauses once inside. It locked the door behind it and called out, "Hilde!"

A rift opens on the wall and out steps Hilde who bows to the figure, "Welcome back, No. Did he do what he was supposed to?"

No nodded, "He even managed to injure Satan himself if ever so slightly."

Hilde looked at him amazed, "Really?!"

No nodded, "But that's for the briefing, for now, we must be prepared for an assault on hell and a start tracking the demon."

Hilde nodded vigorously and No enters the rift leaving her behind for a few moments as the reality of what was going to happen was slowly dawning on her.

With a malicious grin, she enters the rift, "Satan, your time of reckoning is soon to arrive."

* * *

-A Few Hours Later-

Goda stood with the Divine Six Wings in front of the quickly gathering army of the Six Wings, he took a deep breath to steady his sporadic nerves but it did little to help as the moment that this whole organization was built on was drawing near.

He turns towards Seo, "Is No tracking him now?"

Seo nods, "He has managed to trace the demons steps for quite a bit, it appears that the swordsman had managed to injure him enough that he is forced to move at a much slower pace."

Goda nods and rubs his hands nervously turns back to see that the entire organization had gathered and was waiting for him to speak, he looks around one last time before walking forward and clearing his throat. "Welcome everyone, this morning one of our allies had confronted the King of Hell. Their battle was long and arduous, and Satan had ultimately came out as the victor. But our ally is far from dead and the injuries that he caused Satan finally allowed us to be able to track him back to his base. As I speak No is currently following them as they head back. This means that soon enough we will have located the destination for our assault and I must say to you all to prepare for the inevitable battle, for this battle will be beyond anything we have faced before. We will leave as soon as No returns, say your prayers and prepare for war!"

They cheer at the end of his speech and Goda takes a few steps back and releases a sigh of relief. He turns towards the present Divine Six Wings and gives a weak smile.

They smile back at them as a shadow emerges next to them, it was No, "I have successfully tracked him to an island not too far from the island that the swordsman and Satan fought on, I tracked them all the way to an island ironically named Hell's Gate."

Goda nods vigorously and turns back to the crowd, "No has returned, we have discovered the location of the King of Hell and we set off in an hour! Gather your weapons and prepare for war!"

The masses cheer and disperse to gather their weapons of war for the upcoming battle, Ban was shaking in anticipation, while the rest of them were all mentally preparing themselves for the battle to come.

* * *

-An Hour Later-

Goda turns towards Hilde, "You sure you can keep it open long enough for everyone to pass through?"

Hilde sighs, "I'm not sure but I'll try my best."

Goda nods and turns towards the gathered army of the Six Wings, "Beyond this gate is the island which we have tracked Satan back to, prepare to be met with armies of monsters and demons the moment you foot set onto the island. May lady luck be on our side men, HOO-HA!"

The army roared back and started charging into the rifts that Hilde had opened with the Divine Six Wings leading the charge, Goda trailed a bit further behind the six as his primary role wasn't that of a warrior. The armies were met with a multitude of scattered monsters that they've never seen before but didn't think much of it as they rushed forward slaughtering them.

Goda turns to No, "Where is he?"

No points towards the castle and Goda nods calling on Ban, "Ban! Lead us towards the castle!"

Ban lets out a war cry and charges towards the castle while barreling through any monster that was unlucky enough to come across him, after a few moments and a lot of running they finally reach the castle. Ban doesn't slow down at all and continues to barrel forward crashing right into the front gate which surprisingly enough held and caused him to fall backward from the recoil.

He stands back up livid and charges at the gate again leading to the same result, he screams in frustration and is prepared to charge at the door once again but is stopped by Seo.

"Brute force is not what is required here, my friend"

Seo walks towards the door and hovers his hand over his blade, taking a deep breath he strikes. He cuts the gate, creating a square that would allow them to enter the castle. He slowly takes a few steps into the castle scouting around to see if there was anyone in the castle that may pose a threat to them, seeing no one he signaled the others to enter.

Goda turned towards No, "Lead the way."

No nods and makes his way to the front slowly descending down the castle, the six with the exception of Ban followed him as Ban decided to kill a few more monsters before joining up with them.

They enter a cavern below the castle and No points towards a wide plain within the cave, Aoi steps forward and peers down to see a tomb sitting in the middle of the area, "Is that a tomb?"

Kano follows after him, "It appears so."

Seo turns towards No, "Where are they then?"

No narrows his eyes, "I saw them enter that tomb."

Before they could discuss what to do Ban roars, "Then let's get inside that tomb then! Can't wait to give that fucking demon scum a piece of my mind!"

He jumps off the ledge they were on as the others called out for him not to, but he ignored them and continued forward. Once he reached the tomb he reached the handle of it and tried to force it open only for it to not budge, he glares at it trying again with the same result.

He turns towards the others and calls out, "It won't open!"

Aoi narrowed his eyes and stepped forward pointing his staff at it, "Let me have a crack at it."

The light in the room gathered at the top of the staff before shooting out at the handle of the tomb, to Aoi's surprise it did nothing and the tomb was practically unscathed after his attempt.

One after another the rest of the six attempted to pry the tomb open unsuccessfully, Aoi tuned towards Goda, "If we can't open this then does that mean... we just sacrificed someone for absolutely nothing?"

Goda grew paler and paler at this realization, "I think we did."

* * *

-With Zoro-

He groaned and shook his head to rid himself of his drowsiness. He looks around confused as to where he is and tries to stand up. But he is unable to as his hands and legs were bound by something.

He blinks rapidly and searches for what was restraining him and finds that he was being bounded by several metal chains, "Where the hell am I?"

He hears someone chuckle at him, "Well you said so yourself, you're in hell."

He snaps his head towards the voice to find a woman leaning against a wall twirling a knife in her hands, "Who the hell are you?"

She stops twirling the knife and walks up to him, tracing his face with the knife she answers, "I'm known by many things, but what you can call me is your own personal tormentor."

He gives her an exhausted look, "Fun."

She chuckles at this and grabs his chin forcing him to look up, "It's going to be for me, you, well... not so much."

He rolls his eyes and stays silent as he hears another set of footsteps approach, he turns towards the sound to see a staircase and a quickly approaching shadow.

After a few moments, Satan emerges with a smile on his face, "Well, that's nice you finally woke up, I must say patience was never my strong suit and with you passed out for so long I was tempted to let dear old Harley here get to work already just so you would wake up."

Harley grumbled and looks away mumbling under her breath, "You should have."

Satan chuckles lightly at this, "Well, I'm here to give you an offer."

Zoro quirked an eyebrow at this but stayed silent as Satan continued, "It's very self-explanatory that even a simple brute like you could understand."

Zoro didn't fall for his goading and continued to stay silent, "You can join me, you'll become part of my elite guard as I slowly turn the world into a living battlefield or, you know, you could say no and we can torture you here for all of eternity. The choice is yours."

Satan had a nonchalant smile on his face as he waited for him to answer, though the person to speak after would be Harley, "I'm hoping you say no."

Satan gives her a deadpan expression, "Seriously? I get that you want to torture him but at least let him answer first."

Harley raises her hands in surrender at this obviously impatiently waiting for Zoro to answer, hoping that his answer was going to suit her desires.

Zoro spits some blood out of his mouth and looked Satan in the eye, "We all know what my answer is."

Satan sighs, "Disappointing."

Harley twirls a knife eagerly, "Quite the contrary."

Satan gives her an annoyed look, "This is disappointing to me, no one said anything about you."

Harley was too excited to pay him any mind as she stared directly at Zoro while licking her knife, Satan sighs heavily, "Well, I've already set everything out in front of you. If you ever change your mind do say so but until then it's all yours Harley."

With that Satan walked away leaving Zoro alone with Harley, who was practically hopping in excitement towards him, "You and me, we're going to have so much fun."

She twirls around in a circle and grabs a trolley behind her filled to the brim with weapons, "What should we start with?"

Zoro stayed silent knowing that goading her would do nothing but increase the suffering that he was going to face for the foreseeable future.

She pouts at his silence, "Come on, if you stay quiet it isn't nearly as much fun!"

He closes his eyes and lowers his head to prepare himself for torture that he would have to face soon, "You know what, I shouldn't waste time. I want to have as much fun as I can before he sends you to the arena."

He furrows his brow and this and looks back up at her, "Arena?"

She grumbles and rolls her eyes, "Yea, torturing sometimes isn't enough so we send them to the arena and I can already tell it's going to be hard to break you so he's definitely going to send you there. Though it's barely any better there, the difference is that none of the torturers deal with you, you're forced to fight others in the same situation you're in."

Zoro nods and closes his eyes again, if he was to be brought to the arena then things would be a hell of a lot easier for him.

**That's a wrap, this chapter was a bit weird to write as I wanted to extend the battle between Zoro and Satan a bit longer but couldn't think of a way to do that so the battle was a lot shorter than I wanted it to be. But besides that, I largely enjoyed how the chapter went and have a rough idea of what direction to take the story in next. This chapter may look a bit different from usual as I got a Beta reader for once which did help the story quite a bit as writing ain't exactly my forte, so props to RedFeather2044 for her help with this chapter and expect the chapters after this to also change slightly as I slowly adjust from the mistakes I used to make. Though I will be trying to get back to my usual schedule which I believe I'm doing a decent job at so far, I might be a day or two late sometimes as since flying my old allergies have resurfaced. Nasty little thing but it doesn't really stop me more so slow me down as I need to use a tissue every couple minutes. But once again, if you're reading and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	41. The Arena

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

"Get up you filthy mortal!"

Zoro groans and shifts his body in a way that would cause the multitude of injuries riddling his body to act up.

"Hey! I said get up not go to sleep you little shit!"

The blurry figure kicks his side causing him to grunt in pain before slowly getting up despite his body protesting against such an action, as he gets up he blinks rapidly hoping that it would fix his blurry vision and after a few attempts it does as the blurry figure was revealed to be Harley who was sporting a very irritated scowl.

He asks, "Hell's got you so pissy?"

She seethes at this, "He's sending you to The Arena today! That means you're no longer mine to torture, you know how much that pisses off a demon?! When someone takes their plaything!"

He rolls his eyes and sarcastically responds, "No, I seriously know how much that sucks and really enjoy being your plaything."

"Shut up, I'm actually really pissed off at this!" She growls at him.

He quirks an eyebrow, "Angry enough to revolt?"

She snorts, "I'm angry, not stupid."

He sighs, "Well, worth a shot."

She rolled her eyes and kicks him, "Get going already, if you're late we're both going to be in trouble."

He scoffs at this, "I'm being tortured in hell, what else could he do?"

She hums in agreement, "Fair enough."

With that, she leads him forward as they head towards a giant looming gate. Once they finally arrive at the gate they're met with two giant figures decked in full blood-red armor.

"Open the gate jackasses." she directs this to the one on the right.

They, what he assumed were guards, opened their mouths to retort but in an instant, Harley drew a dagger and jammed it into the right one's knee before landing a hard kick to the temple causing him to topple over either dead or unconscious. Zoro neither knew or cared, he had his own problems to deal with so worrying about others was not very high on his list of things to do currently.

As the gates, open Harley kicks him in, "I'm going to miss torturing you, you pathetic mess of a person." She was slightly saddened when she said this.

He grumbles at this, "I'm not going to miss you tormenting me that's for sure."

Whatever she said afterward he ignored as he started to pay attention to his surroundings. The Arena looked very similar to the Coliseum that was in Dressrosa with the exception of it being a lot larger and without a moat surrounding a ring. He cautiously steps forward as the sound of cheering overwhelms him, he looks around to see rows upon rows of creatures all screaming and cheering as many different creatures are brought into the Coliseum to fight. Though this was less like a fight and in every sense of the word a bloodbath as creature after creature are slaughtered for entertainment.

A booming voice rings out, "SILENCE!"

The Arena becomes dead silent as if someone had stolen the voice of every creature there, Zoro quickly looks around searching for the source of the voice, following everyone's gaze he finally comes upon Satan smiling at him from a balcony.

"Today, I bring a new warrior into The Arena, now some of you may be thinking it's just another warrior that will fall victim to the brutal maelstrom that is The Arena. But I beg to differ! This new contender, I believe is powerful enough to dethrone the current champion. If they were to fight, I can personally attest to this as I had to fight this one to bring him here today. Though with that being said that is not why I had halted the festivities my dear monsters, the reason I had called for this is to give a special offer for all the warriors here in The Arena. Listen well warriors! If you manage to defeat the new contender I will grant you your freedom away from The Arena!

The entire arena was silent for a moment before erupting in cheers, this time not just from the stand but also from the warriors in The Arena.

Zoro groaned at this, "Great, the moment I get here he places a hit on me already, this is going to be a pain in the ass."

Satan continues with a smug grin on his face, "This special contender goes by The Demon Wind Roronoa Zoro! And he's that bloody green-haired mess right there!"

Satan points directly at him causing the whole arena to turn towards him, he groans and cracks his neck preparing for the onslaught of warriors he was going to soon face. He could already hear them approach him as their footsteps thundered towards him, he reaches his right hand to his waist and freezes remembering that he no longer had his blades with him.

He turns towards Satan and sees him twirling Wado Ichimoji in his hands with a smile, "If you survive today I'll give you just one of your blades back!"

Zoro growls but doesn't have much time to think it over as warriors and creatures he had never once seen in his life are finally close enough to strike at him.

The first one to reach him was a humanoid looking creature that stood far taller than him, it swung its fist clumsily at him and Zoro stepped to the left to avoid the strike. Once the strike was far enough past him he grabbed the elbow and the inside of the forearm, sliding his right foot back in an arc he hurls the creature at the quickly approaching warriors. This worked like a charm as the momentum of the creature only helped him and its large size worked in plowing the rest of them down, quickly scanning the surrounding area he races toward the right.

The slowly recovering creatures notice and chase after him, due to some of their large sizes they quickly caught up, once this happened Zoro swept his leg in a circle kicking up dust to disorientate them. This did little to slow them down but that wasn't his intention as he dropped down and laid on the floor, he closed his eyes activating his Observation Haki.

After a few moments of laying still, the creatures entered the dust cloud most of them frantically searching around for him and Zoro chose this moment to strike, shooting forward like a viper and grabbing the head of the closest creature before slamming it into the ground. He is met with a satisfying crack as the one-eyed giant's body falls limp.

With his Observation Haki he determines that there are eight creatures in the dust cloud with him, he had already taken care of one so he moves on to the next one which was a pair of creatures that were the closest thing resembling a human he's seen since entering The Arena. One wielded a long bronze spear while the other held a large brass shield.

With him slowly closing in, the one wielding the spear noticed him and called out for the other but it was too late as Zoro was already upon him and with a strong ax kick the creature slams into the ground with a groan. Zoro grabs the dropped spear and slams it through its head before turning to the creature holding the shield who screamed in outrage, it blindly charged at Zoro and Zoro responded by leveling the spear at it while charging back at it. Zoro let go of the spear as they impacted and jumped above the creatures shield surprising it, pulling his right arm back he lands a powerful punch right to its temple causing it to stumble dropping the shield and fall backward.

It raised its hands up in fear, "Don't kill me!"

Zoro rolled his eyes and picked up the spear, "If that worked there would be a hell of a lot more people in this world."

He ran the spear through the creature's chest watching as it slowly died and the light faded from its eyes. He turned and grabbed the shield and slipped into the strap sliding the shield over his back as he raced towards his next victim.

Through his Observation Haki, he saw the rest of the creatures cautiously approaching the slowly diminishing dust cloud and luckily enough for Zoro, the remaining five creatures were close together making it easier for him to take them out quickly. He sprinted towards them and reared the spear back and threw it with all his might, the spear brutally tore through the heads of two of the creatures before they even knew it was coming and the other three looked in horror as Zoro dashed into sight.

He used the falling body of the two creatures as a springboard and jumped above the three of them, he swung the shield into his hand and brought the edge of the shield down onto the head of one of the creatures, demolishing its skull completely. He noticed that the creature dropped a dagger and he dove for it, slipping the shield into his left arm as he raced towards the remaining two.

The one in front of him possessed a tail like a scorpion and thick hairy arms like a bear and it hit with the strength of a bear too as when it struck Zoro's shield it managed to knock Zoro off balance.

Zoro growled at it, "I don't have time for this shit!"

The creature scoffs at him, "Then just die!"

This time it used its tail to attack as it provided faster and more precise strikes, Zoro was forced to dodge these strikes with little opportunity to counter-strike. He grew tired of this as he noticed the other creature slowly sneaking behind him. This gave him an idea as he continued to avoid the strikes. The moment when the smaller creature behind him leaped out he spun around grabbing it by its neck and chucked it at the scorpion-bear creature. It didn't expect this as its tail pierced straight through the smaller creatures chest. It was unable to rid the tail of its corpse which greatly slowed it down allowing Zoro to finally make his move.

He dodged the tail and used the shield to bash the creature, knocking it onto his back before driving the dagger into its throat. He quickly dislodged the dagger and slipped the shield onto his back again and he ran to the spear and ripped it out of the two creatures head as the dust cloud dispersed leaving him open. The remaining group of monsters had about thirty of them left. He growled at this and took off running again, he didn't have his preferred weapon so this may be a bit difficult to manage.

"Don't just run little swordsman, people want to see a fight!" Zoro spared a glance to see Satan arrogantly calling him out, Zoro responds by flipping him off.

He continues to run from the horde of creatures when something catches his attention from the corner of his eye, he turns slightly knowing not to get too distracted. To his joy what caught his attention was a small blade that looked vaguely like a tanto, he grinned and raced towards it hoping to quickly snatch it up. Though his senses told him that something about this seemed odd, he stayed cautious as he made his way towards it. Right before he was close enough to snatch it up he notices something off-putting about the ground surrounding it.

He quickly labeled it as a trap and increased his speed, "Jinsoku!"

He was right as the moment he touched the tanto the ground around it closed in on him, he was not going to be easily held as with the tanto in hand he expertly cut the trap so that it would fall apart. Finally, after the trap falls apart he stopped running and smiled at the newly-acquired blade in his hands. He slowly turns towards the quickly approaching horde with a grin that was slowly growing more and more malicious.

The smarter few of the horde of demons slowed down a bit taking a more calculative path in fighting him as the rest of them continued towards him. Zoro rolled his shoulders as he prepared to meet the creatures head-on. Holding the blade in a reverse grip he charges at them and he dodges the ax of the first creature and dices its arm up causing it to scream in pain dropping its weapon.

Zoro picked it up and used his entire body for momentum ultimately decapitating it and he let go of the weapon at the apex of its release to let it fly at the creatures behind it inciting a few screams of terror. He flips the tanto up into a saber grip and dashes between a few of the beasts slitting the throats of three of them, before grabbing one of the bodies and chucking it at the group to disorientate them.

As the group recovered from a body being thrown at them Zoro came in and made quick work of them, either slitting their throats or tearing a few key muscles which would ultimately disable them. With that Zoro had either disabled or killed sixteen of the original twenty creatures of the horde leaving the four who didn't immediately charge at him pitifully standing a few feet behind with their weapons out.

Zoro turns towards them his body being drenched in blood, "Drop your weapons, you all know you can't defeat me."

The four looked at each other scared before turning back to him, "That's not how it works, The Arena only accepts one victor a match and if we surrender we're immediately executed either by others in The Arena or by Satan's henchmen."

Zoro narrows his eyes and opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted by Satan yelling over the crowd, "Come on now, enough chit chat and just kill each other already!"

Zoro glared at him before turning back to the four, he opens his mouth to speak but is once again interrupted, though this time it was by a dagger that managed to pierce through his shoulder. Zoro dropped to his knees the adrenaline slowly fading as the pain set in, he scanned around ferociously looking for his assailant and spots one of the creatures that he had left alive in the horde had attacked him.

In anger, he rips the dagger out of his shoulder and stabs it into the creatures eye repeatedly, once he calmed down he sighed in exasperation before turning around. In the split-second that he did, he was forced to spin to the side to avoid a strike from a short sword, several more strikes follow after it and Zoro is forced to deflect most of them as he recovers from his surprise.

He notices that it was one of the four that had attacked him, growling he counters, "Guess I'm going to have to kill the four of you."

He drops onto his back to avoid a strike pulling his legs into his chest he does a kip-up, landing a clean strike to his assailant's chin before going with the momentum and driving his tanto into his chest. He breathes deeply as the injuries he had suffered from Harley were starting to take more of a toll on his body the more he moved. He looks up to see the remaining three cautiously making their way towards him in a triangular formation so to surround him.

Zoro heaves out, "Just give up and I'll give you all a quick honorable death."

The creature to his left hisses at him, "You're at death's door, you're in no condition to be forcing others to surrender!"

The creature lunges at Zoro and he slams his left fist into his chin sending the creature flying up, the creature quickly drops and Zoro slashes the creatures in half. He studies his handiwork gleefully for a second before turning back to the other two. He drops his shield and the moment before it touches the ground he kicks it towards the one on his right. It served as a distraction as he followed after the shield to quickly remove it, the creature surprisingly enough was able to catch the shield, it's hand slowly shifting into a giant lobster claw to do so.

Zoro didn't let his surprise show as he had already dedicated enough of his remaining effort into this attack, he shifted to his left and flipped the tanto into a reverse grip. The creatures giant lobster claw swiftly shot towards him but Zoro shot through it before it could close on him, though the creature wasn't done yet as its other arm transformed into multiple tentacles all reaching for him.

He expertly avoided a few while dicing through the rest as he quickly closed in on the creature slipping behind it and he stabbed the thing through the chest and watched as the creature gargled in its own blood for a moment before collapsing onto the floor.

Zoro could feel that he was nearing his limit and shakily raises the tanto pointing it towards the last creature remaining, "Give up now and I won't gouge your fucking eyes out!"

Satan lets out a booming laugh, "Now that's more like it! Gouge his eyes out, it'll be a great show!"

Zoro was too exhausted to pay attention to the cheering audience as his vision was slowly becoming spotty, he would only have one shot at this and if he failed then he would die as his body would no longer be able to sustain his consciousness. He closes his eyes and focuses in on the opponent before him, he takes three deeps breaths and on the third breath, he shot forward putting everything into this strike as his remaining opponent panicked at the quickly approaching Zoro.

Zoro flipped the blade back into a saber grip, "Kurinkatto!"

The cut spanned his entire body causing a thin line to appear before bursting open as the cut ripped open, Zoro was breathing heavily but remained standing as the crowd cheered him on.

Satan gave a slow clap and gave a long speech, but Zoro couldn't hear him as he was falling in-between consciousness before glaring at Satan one last time and he finally collapsed in a heap.

Satan chuckles at this, "If this is how he's going to do things then I'm not going to make it easy for him."

_~Three Days Later~_

Zoro jolts awake as someone douses him with water and he instinctively jumps into a ready position and hovers a hand over where his blades should have been. He instantly regretted this reaction as his body exploded with pain, but despite the pain, he still remained standing as he frantically looked around for who or what had awoken him.

He hears laughing above him and cranes his neck to find it, above him was a giant hole in the ceiling with three people or creatures he would assume peering down at him. One of them notices this and chuckles a bit before grabbing what seemed to be an apple and chucking it at him, Zoro bats it away with ease while glaring at them.

They converse among themselves and jeer at him a bit more before leaving, once they leave he looks around to find himself in a cell that was fairly large and the ground for the cell was covered in hay. He narrows his eyes and looks around for a way to escape keeping a careful eye on the hole at the top.

Then a tired voice calls out to him, "I wouldn't do that if I was you."

Zoro turns to his left searching for the source of the voice but finds nothing, "Who are you and where are you?!"

In the corner, the hay rustles a bit before a head emerges from beneath it, "Hello there, boy, My name is Triselor Wranmenor."

Zoro gave him an odd look and was about to question the name before noticing the man's ears. They were much longer than an average person and the tips were pointed. But before he could ask about them Triselor answers first.

"You must be wondering about the ears, well that's because I'm an elf or to be more accurate I'm a half-elf."

Zoro stays on edge as he studies the half-elf, "What the hell is a half-elf?"

Triselor gives him a confused look, "You don't know what an elf is?"

Zoro nodded at this and the man gave him a surprised look before crawling out of the hay, "Well, you see, an elf is like a human but we tend to be shorter and have more slender bodies than them and that is what is with the pointy ears that you've already noticed."

If Zoro was surprised he didn't show it as he found his own corner and settled down, but Triselor wasn't done yet, "So how did you end up in this literal hell hole?"

Zoro rolled over and tried to ignore Triselor but he wasn't having any of that, "Come on now, if we're going to be roommates we can't just ignore each other."

Zoro grunted but responded nonetheless, "Satan dragged me down here himself."

Triselor whistled, "What did you do to piss him off?"

Zoro sat up glaring at him, "I didn't do anything, the only reason he targeted me was because of my connection to a powerful demon and now he just wants to use me as another one of his pawns."

Triselor raised his hands in surrender, "Well if it's any consolation, you probably will be able to rest for about a week. You gave them quite a show last time and managed to take out a tenth of the weaker warriors here."

Zoro furrowed his brow, "Weaker warriors?"

Triselor nodded, "Yea, The Arena is segregated based on the strength of the individual and you were thrown into a ring filled with warriors of the 6th class. They're the third weakest class here and with the strength you displayed I would put you at the 4th Class or 3rd if we're pushing it a bit. Not bad but with that reward over your head it isn't going to be enough. All the warriors will be gunning for you but... well maybe with the exception of those that want to continue to stay in The Arena."

Zoro narrowed his eyes, "Then what class are you?"

Triselor chuckles, "You see there are ten classes in total from Class zero to eight then there is a special Class labeled E Class, I belong to this special class. E Class is the only class that can't be achieved by strength and the class is for those that Satan considers exotic and keeps as pets. We're thrown into The Arena too but if someone were to kill anyone of E Class they would face unspeakable torment by Satan himself. That's kinda what's keeping me alive right now as many steer clear of those that are of the E Class and now you. So far people have been mostly placing you in the 4th Class so what their saying is that in The Arena you're about the average warrior. You got a long way to go if you want to survive The Arena and there are only about fourteen people in The Arena that have managed to achieve the Zero Class and to my knowledge, all of them want to get the hell out of here so you need to watch your back."

Zoro nods at this and lays back down.

The pair are engulfed in silence for a few seconds before Triselor spoke up again, "I think we're going to be great friends you know. Wait, what's your name?"

Zoro groans but replies, "Zoro, Roronoa Zoro."

_~A Week Later~_

Triselor slaps Zoro, "Come on man, wake up!"

On instinct, Zoro's fist shot forward burying itself in Triselor's face causing him to yelp in pain and fall backward gripping his face, "What the hell was that?!"

Zoro snorts awake and sits up yawning, "Huh? What're you yelling about?"

Triselor sighs angrily and rubs his face, "You're unbelievable, but that's beside the point. They're coming for you man, they're pitting you up against people of the 4th Class so it would be less of a slaughter, like when you faced off against those of the 6th Class."

Zoro groans and rubs the back of his head lazily, "Took them long enough."

Triselor groans and his hands shook in an annoyed fashion which looked like he wanted to strangle Zoro, "Don't you get it?! With the bounty on your head those of the 4th Class would gang up on you first before turning on each other, I know you're strong but a whole slew of 4th Class warriors is something even you can't deal with!"

Zoro chuckled at him, "Ye of little faith."

Triselor glared at him before collapsing backward, "Fine do whatever you want, if you die it's no skin off my back."

He ignored this and tilted his head up searching for someone to appear to take him out of his cage and after a few moments two familiar demons popped out from the edges of the hole.

Zoro grinned at them and flipped them off causing the one to the right to burst into laughter while the other threw a slew of curses at him, "Come on you little bastards I want to kill someone already!"

The one laughing calmed down a bit and slapped the other one's shoulder lightly, "Come on now, we need to get him to The Arena now Tom. You know Satan doesn't like to wait and he really wants to see Zoro fight some of the guys."

The now named Tom does nothing but glare at Zoro for a moment before relenting with a sigh, "Fine Doug, but let's do this fast, I don't want to spend any unnecessary time with this bastard."

They disappear for a moment before returning with a rope. They threw the rope down the hole and waited expectantly for Zoro to grab onto it. He wrapped the rope around his waist and tugged on it as Tom and Dough pull him out of the cage. Once they were out he was led towards The Arena where he would once again be forced to fight a multitude of opponents. Though he would have to be more cautious this time seeing as these opponents would be two classes stronger than the ones he had faced a week prior, though he was still uncertain how much stronger a class was he would be on guard especially seeing as he still had a hit on him courtesy of Satan.

Zoro zones out as Tom and Doug converse among each other they make they way towards the giant looming gates of The Arena, once they finally arrive Zoro is met with a slap on the back of the head he rubs the spot and glares at Tom who glared right back, "Hope you die in The Arena like the dog you are."

Zoro rolled his eyes and retorted, "Ahh, didn't know you cared so much about me so much."

Doug chuckled at this, "Do take care of yourself, these people aren't going to be easy to defeat but do give us a good show now."

Zoro waved him off and entered The Arena once again and the sheer size of it never ceased to amaze him but his attention was drawn elsewhere as he noticed that this time around there was no fighting going on in The Arena. He looks around and sees that all the other warriors were lined up at different entrances and not a single one was moving from where they stood.

He followed their gaze and found himself looking right back at Satan who was ready to give yet another speech, "Welcome once again my fellow monsters, today we finally see the return of Zoro, the new contender that swept through the ranks of the 6th Class matching up against those of the 4th Class, the class that many believe he would be placed in! Today we shall see how powerful he truly is as he is matched against those that are two classes stronger than the warriors that he had swept through a week before!"

Satan retains his smug grin as he makes full eye contact with Zoro who glared back at him. With that done, Zoro brought his palm up towards Satan causing him to be confused for a moment before a look of realization crossed his face.

He grinned at Zoro and spoke again, "As I have promised, the new contender shall have one of his three prized weapons returned to him with the completion of my earlier statement!"

Satan sticks his hand out and Wado Ichimoji materialized in his hands, he twirled it a bit before hurling it at break-neck speeds towards Zoro. Zoro activated his Armament Haki and coated his right arm before placing his palm out in front of him, the blade impacted his hand at with such speed that is caused a sonic boom shocking most of the audience and the other warriors. As they recovered many looked towards Zoro in surprised to see him completely unharmed from it.

Zoro settles the sheath of Wado Ichimoji by his waist and closes his eyes taking a deep breath. Once he releases his breath he opens his eyes and all sense of emotion completely leaves them and through his glare, alone many could tell that Zoro would be a monster among monsters.

He carefully eyes his opponents before speaking, "Are we going to get started or are you guys just going to stand there trying to look pretty?"

This seemed to enrage a few of his opponents as a portion of them immediately charged at him.

Zoro allowed only a sliver of a blood-thirsty grin to grace his features before he took action, "Come and meet your demise, I don't have all the time in the world," he unsheathes Wado Ichimoji and charges forward, "Kami no Hono Tatsumaki!

**That's a wrap, I'm gonna try to make this short as I really need some sleep, but this is the only chapter that involved a fight scene I'm actually pleased with as it didn't feel weird to me. Though writing fights like that would take up a large part of the chapter I'm probably gonna do it like that seeing as I made the fight slightly more realistic. I'm not exactly sure how long I'm going to have Zoro stuck in The Arena but I'm planning on having him stay there for a bit longer than how long he usually spends on an island but not much longer, so maybe two to three more chapters of The Arena after this. Though nearing the end of this chapter I kind of messed up the mood of how I want this arc to go and I'm a tad bit too lazy to go back through the chapter to change it so I'm gonna change it in the coming chapters. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it, thanks for reading.**


	42. A Glaring Gaze

**.Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

The perfect word to describe what he was currently feeling was annoyed as he tended to the few wounds that covered his body, Triselor chuckled at this, "I told you that they weren't going to be pushovers."

Zoro rolled his eyes and picked up a random bowl sitting by his leg chucking it at him, "Yea, I knew they weren't going to be pushovers, but I expected far more than I was given. They weren't pushovers but they weren't strong enough to even land a deep cut on me, which is just sad seeing as I've only had one of my three blades returned to me."

Triselor pauses, "Wait, three swords?"

Zoro nodded, "Yea, three swords."

Triselor gives him an od look, "How do you fight with three swords?"

Zoro answered while tightening a bandage with his mouth, "Dual wielding and the third blade being placed in my mouth."

Triselor grows even more confused, "How does a sword in your mouth make you stronger?"

Zoro growls and rips the bandage, "Can you just shut up for a minute as I try to finish this up?"

Triselor raises his hands in surrender at this and throws silent mocking faces at Zoro as he continued to work on his injuries, they sit in silence for a few minutes before Zoro finishes up, "Finally, now do you know when the next time their going to throw me into The Arena is?"

Triselor shrugs, "Nope, last time I only overheard the guys talking about is so I knew they were going to grab you in a week but this time I haven't heard anything from the guards. Though a fight might not be what you're going to be dragged out for first."

Zoro quirks an eyebrow at this, "What do you mean?"

Triselor sighs and falls backward onto the hay, "Though you didn't steamroll through the 4th Class like you did the 6th Class, you still defeated them without much trouble and that may unsettle many of the higher classes. Though this fight will only show others that you're quite powerful and you mos likely will attract the attention of the few members of the 0 Class, you see here in The Arena those of the 0 Class are practically celebrities the only warrior in The Arena with more power would be the Champion himself. Though he rarely ever appears as many don't ever make it to the 0 Class to challenge him, with the power given to them they can drag warriors they don't like and have them killed right there with the only exception being those of the E Class. Satan doesn't particularly enjoy this but still allows it as it stirs up fear and causes many to betray each other within The Arena and he just loves that. With your performance earlier you have most likely attracted their attention, but more specifically Rujin the Bloodthirsty, he's a troll that has a nasty reputation of targetting those that seem to have the potential of reaching the 0 Class like you."

Zoro waves him off, "So I just have to watch out for a troll? That shouldn't be too much of an issue."

As he says this they hear yelling and feel the ground shaking, Zoro slowly stands up and hovers his hand over Wado Ichimoji. After a few moments, a shadow descends onto the two of them, with a resounding boom a giant figure lands in the center of Zoro and Triselor's cage. The figure was an ugly creature with a major underbite, he looked around and grinned, "Now which one of you is Roronoa Zoro?"

Zoro narrowed his eyes at the figure, "That would be me, what do you want?"

The figure laughed and walked up to Zoro bending down to get a good look at him as his body greatly dwarfed Zoro's, "Names Rujin, you and me are going to have a nice long talk."

Zoro quirks an eyebrow, "What makes you think I'm going to just go along with you?"

Rujin lets out a booming laugh before the mirth in his eyes disappeared only to be replaced by a crazed glint, "What makes you think that a lowly 4th Class warrior can talk back to me?"

Triselor waves his hands in an attempt to catch Zoro's attention and he succeeds, he whispers loud enough for Zoro to hear but not enough for Rujin to, "Just go with him, if he goes nuts in here we're both going to die!"

Zoro rolls his eyes and sighs, "Fine, where are we going?"

Triselor lets out a sigh of relief as Rujin chuckles, "Tell your guards to take you to the Mudcage, I'll be waiting for you there."

Rujin quickly climbs up out of the cage and hops out, but not before looking back down at him, "Hurry up now, I'm not a very patient troll and if you keep me waiting things could go badly for you very fast."

Zoro grumbles at this and calls out, "You heard him! Tom! Doug! Get me out of here already."

Zoro hears a bit of shuffling a string of curse words before Tom pops his head from the side, "It's just me today, Doug is on an errand."

Zoro rolls his eyes, "Don't care, you heard the troll man, time for me to head to the Mudcage."

Tom grumbles underneath his breath, "It's your funeral."

He tosses the rope into the cage and Zoro wraps it around his waist letting Tom hoist him up, once up he waves his hand out, "Well, lead the way."

Tom grumbles and starts walking with Zoro silently following him, they walk around for a solid few minutes before they arrive at a small cave entrance. Tom points at it, "Well, in you go."

Zoro quirks an eyebrow, "This is the Mudcage?"

Tom rolls his eyes, "This is the entrance to the Mudcage and honestly, with a name like the Mudcage what did you expect?"

Zoro shrugged and took a step in only to slip and fall, he grumbles and tries to get up as Tom laughs at him. He turns around and glares at Tom, "What're you laughing about?"

Tom chuckles and waves him off, "Nothing, have a nice trip."

Zoro looks at him oddly, "Have a nice tri-?!"

He slips again but this time he doesn't just fall on his back, the mud within the cave causes him to slide into it as Zoro is met with a sudden drop. "TOM YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Zoro continues to descend at an accelerated pace before he finally sees, he panics slightly as below was simply a muddy marshland. Knowing that he wouldn't have much time left he unsheathed Wado Ichimoji and focused entirely on the timing of an attack that may or may not save him from being nothing but a bloody splat on the floor. He waits for a few moments before pointing his blade directly below him, "SAIKO NO KAITAI RYUSEI!"

The bolt of fire would usually shoot forward like an arrow but without solid ground to help distribute the recoil from the attack, Zoro was also pushed back by the attack, exactly what he planned to do as this served to slow his descent marginally. But it wasn't enough as the speed at which he was going at would still ultimately lead to his demise, he tries again, "SAIKO NO KAITAI RYUSEI!"

And again, "SAIKO NO KAITAI RYUSEI!"

He would so so until he crashes into the muddy floor, he lays still for a few moments before getting up with a deep groan while nursing his most likely bruised or broken arms. He clumsily wipes the mud from his brow and scans the area around him, it would only come up empty as he would find absolutely nothing around him except for a vast marshland. He gets up with a groan and remembers where he fell before walking off in a random direction, he aimlessly wanders around hoping to come across something or someone but even after what felt like an hour of wandering he wouldn't find anything. He pauses and snaps upward yelling in outrage, "Fine you shit if I can't find you then I won't fucking bother."

He finally snaps and sits down onto the muddy floor, he rests his blade against his shoulder and closes his eyes to get some rest. He would doze off for an uncertain amount of time before he would be awakened by a creature growling, lazily popping one eye open he sees what appeared to be a wolf-like creature slowly approaching him hungrily. Zoro sighs and rubs his face, "Back off if you know what's good for you."

The wolf barked at him and continued to stalk towards him, Zoro sighs once again and unsheathes Wado Ichimoji, "Your funeral."

The wolf pounces on him hoping to tear into him but Zoro was much faster as he completely cleaved the creature in two, Zoro wipes the blood off his blade and sheathes it before turning around to look at his handiwork. Pleased with himself he stretches and starts walking again, this time he comes across certain objects instead of just a vast marshland. It seemed to be an abandoned fortress of sorts, he curiously peered into the broken down fortress and once he saw that there was no one in sight he cautiously entered it. The place was completely run down and abandoned, though he had to wonder why there would be a fortress in what he would assume is the Mudcage. He shrugs his shoulders as he exits the abandoned fortress and continues on his way after a bit more walking he comes across another odd-looking building this was a structure that seemed to be like a glass dome of sorts.

He ignored the structure this time and continued forward, as he kept on walking he would come upon more and odder structures after a while he finally had enough, "Where the hell am I suppose to go!"

As he said this Rujin's loud booming laugh echoed through the area, "You're already there."

Zoro looks around confused, "The hell you talking about?! And where the hell is that coming from?!"

The laughter returns, "You've been in the Mudcage for quite a while now swordsman and me well I've just been watching you for the past hour or so while you've been none the wiser."

With this new information, Zoro instantly dropped into a ready stance with his hand hovering over his blade as he searched for Rujin. The laugh rings out once again, "Do try, the more you struggle the more I'll enjoy the look of fear on your face when I beat you into a bloody pulp."

Zoro growls at him, "Then come and face me you coward so I can wipe that smug grin off your ugly ass face."

The laughing stops and he could hear Rujin growl at him, this put a grin on his face as he continued to mock Rujin, "Come on now, I heard you were a monster. If you keep on hiding I'm going to start thinking you're a coward!"

Zoro was lucky that Rujin was a very short-tempered, as he would hear stomping quickly approaching him. He turns towards the sound and smiled while unsheathing his blade, he saw Rujin quickly racing towards him from beyond the shadow of the Mudcage and quickly acted, "Ittoryu: Yakkodori!"

The projectile raced towards Rujin and he knew better than to take an attack from an opponent head-on when you were uncertain about their strength, he slowed his charge and jumped out of the way. The projectile whizzed by him and he growled once again charging at Zoro, Zoro responded quickly by racing towards him too, "Ashura no Kohai!"

Though due to him only having one blade the power behind the strike was greatly reduced letting Rujin easily overpower him, this sent him flying back as Rujin swung his giant wooden club. Zoro groaned as he was slammed into a wall that he had not seen until he had hit it, he puts a hand on the wall as he stabilizes himself as Rujin turns towards him with a murderous gaze.

Rujin jumps high into the air with his club overhead head to bring it down to crush Zoro, he grumbles at this and dashes to the side to avoid getting flattened by the attack but the impact of both Rujin landing and him slamming the club onto the ground causes the ground to shake causing Zoro to stumble a bit before regaining his balance, "You're a hefty fat fucker aren't you?"

This only served to infuriate Rujin even more as he chased after Zoro paying no heed to control or their surroundings, only swinging his club around randomly hoping to catch Zoro out. Zoro dodges these strikes with ease and continued to do so searching for the perfect opportunity to strike, he would eventually get this opportunity as Rujin exhausted himself constantly striking at Zoro. His strike became slower and so did him recover from them which gave Zoro an ample opportunity to get within his guard, with the next strike Zoro readied himself and the moment when Rujin paused Zoro shot forward cutting into Rujin's dominant arm, "AHH YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

Rujin swung his other arm forward to try to grab Zoro but Zoro ha already detached his blade from Rujin's arm and struck at his leg this time slashing at his Achilles tendon which made Rujin collapse onto his other leg as the pain swept over him. This achieved Zoro's goal of incapacitating Rujin as he was hard-pressed to move in any way or form lest his leg erupts in immense pain. Zoro sighed and calmly walked towards Rujin, his blade lowered but not completely relaxed just in case Rujin would try to strike at him. He was correct in this assumption as to when he was close enough Rujin swing his club clumsily with his other arm towards Zoro.

Zoro sighed and proceed slice off the fingers of that hand inciting a cry of pain from him, Zoro twirled his blade a bit giving Rujin a jaded look though his eyes gave off a different feel. "Now you see we're quite different, you're a simple brute. A buffoon with immense strength but with no knowledge of how to properly use it, this is why you will always lose to others."

This ticked Rujin off but he couldn't do anything as both his hands were incapacitated and one of his legs was barely operational. Zoro strode forward and used the tip of his blade to force Rujin to look him dead in the eye, "Now I've been here long enough and your sorry excuse of warrior barely entertained me, so tell me how to get out of here or I'll start tearing into that ugly face of yours. Though that may just be a good thing for your looks."

Rujin glared at him but with Zoro pushing the blade closer and closer to his throat he couldn't do anything but point back to the abandoned fortress, "There, at the top of the highest tower there's a rope that'll take you back into the Arena."

Zoro mockingly grins at this and lightly slaps Rujin's face, "Now, that wasn't so hard wasn't it."

Rujin growls at Zoro but knows that he wouldn't be able to do anything against him, Zoro sheathes his sword and starts heading back to the fortress, "If that's how strong you of the 0 Class are then I won't have much problem bulldozing through the rest of them."

As Zoro walks away Rujin chuckles hysterically, "I never want to admit it but the rest of them are in a class of their own! I've never been able to even land a scratch on them, you'll end up exactly like I am now!"

Zoro narrows his eyes but ignores him as he enters the fortress he peers out one more time to see Rujin still on the floor laughing hysterically as a pack of wolves slowly close in on him. He shrugs his shoulder and heads towards the top looking for the rope that Rujin had mentioned, he would find it a few minutes later and quickly climb up. He groans as he pulls himself up, he looks around to find himself right next to the entrance where he had fallen through. He finds Tom leaning right next to the entrance smoking a cigarette before he noticed Zoro, "Ohh? You survived."

Zoro rolls his eyes and scoffs at him, "Of course I did. Did you think I would lose to that troll?"

Tom sighs bending his head back before spitting his cigarette out, "Well, back to the cage with you."

Zoro groans and stretches his back a bit before standing up, Tom starts walking back to the cage that Zoro shared with Triselor without keeping an eye on Zoro who had walked in the complete opposite direction. Tom turns around to say something to Zoro only find that he was nowhere in sight, he blankly looks around before yelling in frustration, "You motherfucker! You just have to make my job harder than it already is!"

Zoro escaped Tom's vision quickly and went about searching for some sake or anything that would distract him from the reality that he was stuck in, though he didn't have high hopes to stumbling upon some sake he would still search around. "Why the fuck are you here?"

Zoro turns around to come face-to-face with Harley his previous tormentor, Zoro instantly dropped his hand to the hilt of Wado Ichimoji knowing that Harley was a very dangerous person that he shouldn't mess with. Zoro stayed silent and slowly backed away hoping that in a moment of hesitation he would be able to slip away, Harley noticed this and quickly rushed forward.

Zoro unsheathed Wado Ichimoji and quickly swung at her hoping to catch her out, but Harley easily avoided the strike by ducking under it. She reached up grabbing his wrist and putting a palm behind his elbow, in a single instant Harley pulled his wrist back with her palm still on his elbow. This broke his arm easily causing him to curse and backpedal while nursing his now broken arm, Harley chuckled at this, "What? Just because I was Satan's head torturer you thought that I wouldn't be good at fighting? Well, you thought wrong and I'm going to enjoy playing with you again."

Zoro growled and switched his blade to his other hand as Harley rushed at him once again, this time he opted for a jab that caught her by surprise causing her to fall backward. He jumps back knowing that at his current speed no attack would even touch her, "Jinsoku!"

Harley quickly gets back up and licks her lips in anticipation, "Now that's more like it, it wouldn't be fun if you couldn't put up much of a fight."

Zoro pulled his broken arm in so that it wouldn't just fling around annoyingly and prepared to counter-attack another one of her dash attacks, she stood still for a few moments in a mocking manner before dropping to all fours and kicking off the ground hard enough to crack the floor where she was standing. She flipped forward and brought a devastating ax kick down onto him, Zoro used the side of his blade to direct the attack so that it wouldn't harm him. The moment her foot touched the ground she kicked off again swinging into a sidekick that Zoro tried to block only to be blown back by more force then Rujin could ever muster.

Stabbing his blade into the ground he stabilizes himself, once he came to a stop he shot forward taking the initiative of offense this time. Shooting forward he slid on his heels with his blade aimed at Harley's calf hoping to do the same thing that he had done with Rujin. Harley responded quickly by hopping into the air avoiding his attack completely and as Zoro slid right underneath her, she brought her fist come onto his left side with a sickening crack followed by blood erupting from his mouth. Harley laughs joyously, "Is that all you'll amount to? Disappointing!"

He tries to get up but Harley retracts her hand to unveil that her nails had grown an extra few inches and were as sharp as a blade, she takes her hand and this time jams the sharp nails into his side tearing into his flesh. Zoro gives off an uncomfortable grunt before headbutting her causing her to stumble backward, "You're one pyscho bitch!"

Harley chuckles and swipes the blood leaking from her most likely broken nose, "Why thank you."

Zoro glares at her as he gets up, "That wasn't a compliment."

He puts his hand over the wound to feel how bad it was before spitting out some blood and focusing his attention on her again, "This isn't going to end well for either of us."

Harley laughs, "You got that right!"

Zoro growls and points his blade at her, "Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

She quickly dodges the projectile and turns back to Zoro with a grin on her face, "That all?"

But Zoro was far from done as he struck again, "Sanbyakurokuju Pound Ho!"

This projectile swirls around tearing apart the ground which it passed over before slamming into Harley, giving birth to a storm of tiles, wind, and blood. He uses his blade to hold himself up as he studied the damage that his attack had caused, he could hear yelling and footsteps quickly approaching where he was. He could only curse as his body groaned in protest of hi trying to move, but before he could leave he felt a sudden burst of energy quickly closing onto him. He jumps back to avoid Harley who was bruised and battered but far from dead, with her nails she swung with renewed ferocity. Zoro was avoiding the brunt of most of her attacks but with the amount of blood he was losing due to his wound he was quickly slowing down as shown through how each attack got closer and closer to tearing into him.

He could hear others arriving at the scene but couldn't tear his attention away from the rampaging demon in front of him, "Harley, stop!"

This voice catches his attention as he turns to see Satan standing there with a displeased expression on his face, but this proved to be his downfall as that moment of distraction was what Harley needed. She shot forward with two quick strikes she ripped through his left eye and pierced through his right deltoid. In pain and anger, Zoro grabbed her hand before roughly slamming it into the ground with an enrage cry, this shattered the floor underneath them and Zoro stood still heaving. He looked around to see that he was surrounded by a multitude of creatures and demons including Satan himself, he had one word for Satan before he collapsed, "Prick."

Satan sighed in annoyance and called for the guards present, "Bring him to Sarvia to get patched up and bring her to the Bloodfield, I need to talk with her later."

The guards salute him and get to work as Satan grumbles at the two fighters, unbeknownst to everyone there, though Zoro had collapsed he was still conscious as he hazily watched everything unfold. He was thrown onto a weird stretcher and was taken away, as he was taken away he looks to the far side to find an isolated giant cage. He looks closer to see a pair of glowing red eyes watching him before the resident of the cage spoke up, "Don't cause too much trouble you little shit, if you do then I'm going to be the next one to come after you."

With that Zoro finally loses consciousness as the creature in the cage laughed at him.

~A Few Hours Later~

"Wake up idiot."

Zoro groans and flips over ignoring the voice, "Hey! I said get up!"

This time he's met with a kick to the side causing him to open his eyes, or to be more accurate eye singular. He found that opening his left eye was something that he was unable to do, he sighs and slowly sits up blinking a bit to adjust to the light he finds himself in an actual room for once instead of a cage for once. He yawns and turns to his left to find himself face-to-face with a woman, "Who the hell are you?"

She crosses her arms over her chest and huffs, "Well, that's a nice way to greet the person that just spent the last hour patching you up."

He rolls his eye, "I'm literally in hell so sorry if whatever I do doesn't please you."

She flips him off, "Should have just let you bleed out."

He looks himself over to find that he was largely covered in bandages with a splint on his broken left arm, "Do you have a mirror?"

The unnamed woman leans back in her chair and points towards a door, "There's a bathroom."

Zoro slowly gets up and heads towards the door, once inside he takes off the bandages over his left eye to study the extent of the damage to it. He finds that he once again has a scar adorning his left eye, though the cause of it this time was a rampaging demon tearing into it instead of it being from Mihawk. He runs his finger over the wound which this time resembled more of a wild beast scratching his eye instead of a single sword slash, "That eye of yours was damaged quite a bit, with my limited knowledge of medicine I could only do so much but you should still be able to use the eye after it heals up a bit."

He turns to see the woman leaning back on her chair with a lollipop in her mouth, he nods and walks back to the bed he woke up in. opping into it he leans back and closes his eye, "So what are you?"

The woman raises an eyebrow at this, "What? Don't you mean who?"

Zoro glares at her, "This is hell, I highly doubt you're a human. So I'm going to ask what before who."

She takes the lollipop out of her mouth and scoffs, "Rude, aren't you? Well anyway, names Sarvia I'm a succubus."

Zoro raises an eyebrow, "Succubus? Hmm, haven't heard of that in a long time."

Sarvia raises an eyebrow at this, "So you've actually heard of a succubus?"

Zoro nods, "Yea, these few demons I talk to told me all about the types of demons there are."

Zoro pauses right after this finally remembering something, he chose to file away the fact that he could talk to Ashura for later. He grins lightly and tries to get some more rest but Sarvia doesn't let him, "Get up now, you've had enough sleep. Big boss man wants to talk to you."

Zoro quirks a brow, "Satan?"

Sarvia rolled her eyes, "Yea of course. Who else would I be talking about? The Candyman?"

Zoro puts his hands up, "Jeez I was just asking."

Zoro gets up and while their walking towards what he would assume was Satan's office he asked, "While I was being carried here before I fell unconscious I saw a singular cage holding someone with glowing red eyes."

Sarvia raises an eyebrow, "Yea, what of it?"

Zoro narrowed his eyes, "Do you know who it is?"

Sarvia studied him, "Why do you want to know?"

Zoro shook his head, "Just something about him seemed unsettling to me."

Sarvia sighed and scratched the back of her head, "That's Tyrranth, The Champion,"

**That's a wrap, sorry that this chapter came out later than it should have come out. I got way too distracted over the week to work on this and there was a bit of miscommunication that screwed things up at the end, but despite that, the chapter went the way I wanted it to so everything's good. Things are still going to be a tad bit slow as I'm actually interacting like a human being with others, something I haven't done much of for the past two years since I moved to another country so yea distractions. For the next month or so I should still be able to work on this though I may be a day or two late sometimes so bear with me. Besides that ever since I came back to visit for the summer I've been sick in some way which really sucks as it just makes doing things harder as every couple minutes I'll be hacking up a lung or something. It's been getting better but it still affects me a lot whenever I'm awake to do anything, though on another note I finally got a good computer after four years of the shitty broken one I had so I'm actually able to play lots of video games on this and that leads to another distraction but it's fun. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it, thanks for reading.**


	43. Crawling

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

The Bloodfield was exactly as the name described a literal field of blood spanning miles. When they touched down Zoro disgusted at the fact that every step he took sunk beneath the massive amount of blood that made up the field, he turned towards Sarvia to see that she seemed completely fine with this and continued on her way as if it was an everyday occurrence. He followed her cautiously studying the area around him, as they continued on Zoro studied the Bloodfield intensely. It gave him an odd feeling and that was putting him on edge, they finally arrived at what appeared to be an underground entrance made of blood. Zoro silently entered not knowing exactly what to expect inside but being prepared for the worse.

They were met with the sight of Satan sitting in a chair looking annoyed as Harley laid bloodied on the floor next to him slowly coughing up blood, Sarvia sighed and turned around waving at Satan as she left, "I brought him here so I'm just going to head back now."

Satan nods, "Thank you Sarvia."

Zoro carefully watched Satan while not uttering a single word as he tossed Harley backward before directing his attention to him, "Now I'm sure you understand why you're here."

Zoro stayed silent and slowly hovered his hand over Wado Ichimoji, Satan quirks an eyebrow and glares at him, "I would try anything if I was you, my patience is already wearing thin and if you try anything I'm sure to snap with you being the one to suffer from it."

Zoro kept his hands on his blade but took the warning, Satan points towards a chair to his left, "Sit."

Treading slowly he approached the chair, he gave it a good stare before settling down in it. Satan sighed in an annoyed fashion and grab another glass to drink, "You caused quite a ruckus, care to explain why you weren't in your cage?"

Zoro gave him a small shrug still cautious of the man sitting next to him, Satan glares at him though not as harsh this time, "You seem to be more trouble then you're worth Roronoa."

He paused to sip his drink before speaking again, "Care to explain why were you out of your cage and why were you fighting with her?"

Zoro shrugged his shoulders and nonchalantly answered, "I felt like exploring."

The moment he said that Satan shot forward and gripped him by his neck lifting him into the air, "I think I've been far too lenient with you and I will be correcting that now."

Satan punches him hard in the gut causing him to wheeze as the pain spread through the rest of his body, he tossed Zoro to the wall and Zoro gripped his throat while coughing as he finally regains his breath, "Do anything like this again and I'll have you tortured in between matches, you understand me?"

Zoro didn't answer and only glared at him and Satan responded by slamming his head into the wall causing a sizeable dent where his head was, "Do you understand?"

Zoro nodded slowly as his head being pushed against the wall made it difficult to do so, but continued to glare at Satan as he was finally released causing him to fall onto the ground with a thump. He watches as Satan walks towards Harley giving her a hard kick to her side, "Get up now, I know that was far from enough to end your pitiful existence."

He heard a gurgle followed by a hard cough before Harley slowly got up glaring at Satan, "It isn't enough to kill me but it sure as hell hurt."

With her getting up he could see that the beating she took was a lot worse than he had expected as her body seemed to be completely torn apart though most likely due to her demon powers she was already healing from the wounds she had endured. He spat in her direction, "You seem to be doing fucking great."

She growled at him, "Don't make me rip your arm off, even in my beaten state I could still tear you apart human!"

They heard someone clear their throat and turned to see Satan looking at them with an annoyed expression, "Just get back to your respective areas and stop causing me any more trouble, and if you do you know what'll happen."

He swiped a finger towards the two of them and in an instant two blood-red tendrils burst forth from the ground and slammed into them sending them reeling back in pain, "Understood?"

The two of them could only nod their heads as the pain was overwhelming their senses, "Tom get him back to his cage!"

Tom emerged and gave Zoro a dirty look before grumbling and grabbing him by the collar and angrily whispered to him, "Get up! I'm not going to drag your sorry ass all the way back to your cage myself!"

Though he didn't take that much of a beating he was in an immense amount of pain, but despite that pain, he was able to shakily get up spitting the blood out of his mouth and limp after Tom. Through his hazy vision and heavy steps he noticed something odd with Tom, he wouldn't stop shaking as they exited the Bloodfield. When they finally slowed down a bit Zoro questioned it with heavy breaths, "Fucks wrong with you? You won't stop shaking."

Tom suddenly stopped spinning around grabbed him by his collar slamming him into the wall behind them, "That is Satan, the fucking king of Hell! The lord of darkness and sin! Do you think we would be treated right simply because we're his kind? If you think so you're fucking delusional, he'll kill and torment anyone that even looks at him wrong sometimes, you're fucking lucky he sees you as an interesting fighter that can garner some attention in the Arena! If it wasn't for that he would have torn through your very soul the moment you opposed him!"

Tom pushed him roughly and gripped his chest heaving heavily, "You don't know the terror and fear he can incite a person to experience in a span of minutes, there are things he can do and show you that will break your mind beyond repair and he won't even bat an eye while doing so."

He never gave it much thought but Satan was very much like the Celestial Dragons, figures feared for their very being and abuse their power in many ways and forms. The only difference was that Satan holds actual power himself unlike the Celestial Dragons who have the Navy do their work for them. He turned away as Tom descended into what he could only describe as a mini panic attack, looking out into the crowd that was cheering on an ongoing fight he saw Satan emerge onto his balcony. He didn't notice this the past few times he entered The Arena but whenever he showed up the entire stadium was encompassed by a cloud of fear, some of the spectators tried to hide it but Zoro can sense it. He turned towards Satan who couldn't see him and grunted, "I'm usually not one to make plans like this or any plans at all but maybe just this once I will."

He hobbled past Tom who was recovering from his terror and heading straight back to his cage to start planning his escape.

~Four Days Later~

"Come on man don't just ignore me!~!"

He turned slightly to see Triselor slumped over calling out to him in an annoyed tone, "You've done nothing but train since you came back beat up, you didn't even bother explaining to me what happened!"

Zoro ignored him and continued his training, a few hours after he had returned from the Bloodfield he felt a pull of energy he hasn't felt in a while, that energy being Nazuna. This wouldn't have sparked anything in him except for the fact that she was able to make contact with him if even briefly and what she told him would have to be added into his planned escape.

In the few moments where she was able to keep the link between them going, she was able to tell him that she along with the Six Wings have been tracking him down through the linked energy that the two of them shared. They were slowly making their way towards Hell's Gate, though he would love to get out of this literal hellhole as soon as he can, he had advised them against it as the disparity of strength between them was made far too apparent through his own fight with Satan. Though he doubted he could even become powerful enough to challenge Satan anytime soon, he was still determined to get powerful enough to challenge the demon to a fairer fight than the one that had put him in this situation.

He knew that swinging his blade around wouldn't be nearly enough to put him on the same level as Satan but knew that to get stronger he would have to start somewhere and the lack of space or human interaction limits him in many ways that are detrimental to his progression. But his current situation was definitely not in his favor as he has no control over a large part of how his life was going on currently as he was still strictly confined to his cell after his little scuffle with Harley.

He was becoming restless as each passing day became more and more annoying him due to his inability to move around much, but that would come to an end very soon as he was once again called out to the Arena. He stayed silent this time as he approached the gates of The Arena, he walked past Tom and Doug entering it without uttering a single word or sparing them a single glance. Once inside he was once again engulfed by the roar of the crowd, he searched around and found his opponents. There were a lot less than warriors compared to when he fought the 6th Class and the 4th Class but that was to be expected.

He tuned out Satan's loud ramble only waiting for him to start the match, he turned towards Satan to see him grinning darkly at him before lifting up a familiar blade, Shusui. That instantly brought back to attention as the sight of his blade caused him to growl, "Roronoa Zoro, if you win this match your second blade shall be returned to you, do not disappoint us."

Zoro remained silent as the crowd continued to taunt and jeer at him only glaring at Satan, unsheathing Wado Ichimoji he readied himself for the fight to come. He was determined to end this as quickly as possible, he would have called upon Decimation for help but ever since entering hell his connection with Ashura and the two seemed to be blocked off. He could only chalk it up as Satan's influence blocking out the demon god. A loud bell goes off instead of Satan yelling for them, signaling the start of the free for all. He was unsurprised to find that the fighters had once again decided to gang up on him in hopes of escaping their fate in The Arena.

Zoro sighs lightly, "They never learn."

Lowering his stance he waited for them to get within range before striking, he knew that steamrolling through them was unlikely to happen but he wished to resolve this as quickly as possible so he didn't play around this time. Coating his blade in Haki and setting it ablaze he swung it around in a circle unleashing an ungodly amount of fire around him which tore through the first wave of fighters that charged him. He walks through the flames and searches for his next opponents only find that most of them distanced themselves from him most likely out of fear, he cracks his neck and set off, "Jinsoku!"

Increasing his speed he races towards the closes of the fighters and decapitates him before he even noticed before moving on to the next ones, a group of three was his next target and after seeing him decapitate the fighter close to them they distanced themselves slightly hoping to catch him out as Zoro had paused momentarily after his strike. They wouldn't get the opportunity as Zoro anticipated this, he switched Wado Ichimoji to a reverse grip and slashed the first fighter's throat while sending a devastating punch into the second fighters solar plexus causing him to collapse before swing his leg up, catching the last fighter's head before slamming it onto the ground crushing the fighters skull. The three had been taken down in a matter of seconds but Zoro wouldn't stop there as he continued on with his rampage, one after another they fell by his hands.

Zoro was lucky that there weren't that many fighters this time as with how little food he was getting his stamina would not have lasted long enough to defeat them all if they had the same numbers as the other classes. He assumed that this was the 3rd Class and was disappointed with just how they were barely any stronger than the 4th Class. He paused and sat down taking a moment to recover as his exhaustion was starting to kick in a bit, he sat there knowing that the remaining few fighters would most likely not approach for a little while which gives him time to rest.

He carefully studied the few fighters remaining to find all but one of them scared of him. He quirked an eyebrow and studied the fighter, he was slightly shorter than Zoro and carried a twin scythe as a weapon, the fighter's build made him seem like an assassin than a straight-up warrior that most of the fighters had to deal with so far. Half his face was covered by a clown mask and he sported a wicked grin, the fighter unsettled Zoro as he felt an odd and unknown energy being emitted from the fighter. Zoro heard a yell and turned around to see one of the fighters trying to steel himself to fight Zoro, he ignored this and turned back to see that the masked fighter had disappeared in the split-second he turned. This instantly put him on edge as the fighter was nowhere to be seen, he quickly stood up with his blade at the ready for an attack he slowly watched the area surrounding him to no avail as it seemed like the fighter never existed to begin with. He narrowed his eyes clearly not convinced, he activated his Observation Haki and scoured the entire arena for the fighter.

After a few seconds of searching, he finally found the fighter racing towards him but a second too late as the fighter struck out as Zoro tried to block the strike. He had specifically targetted his legs in hopes of incapacitating him but the split-second was enough to shift his body enough to avoid a disastrous strike that would have cut through his thigh. Zoro tried to counter-attack but the fighter was far too fast for him to strike, the fighter bounced back and sunk into the ground giggling at him while doing so. Zoro growled at him and searched around again this time determined to stop him in his tracks, the giggling grows louder and louder disorientating him a bit. This gave the fighter another opportunity to strike and he didn't waste it as he once again went for Zoro's legs, but Zoro anticipated this instinctively striking out the moment he felt the fighters bloodlust emerge. This surprised the fighter which allowed Zoro to land a shallow cut on the shoulder of the fighter, the fighter jumps back and rubs his now injured shoulder as Zoro clicks his tongue annoyed that he only managed to injure not kill the fighter.

The fighter's smile dropped a bit and he spoke, "So you aren't all talk, interesting."

Zoro narrowed his eyes at him, "Who are you? You seem too strong to be part of this class."

The fighter chuckles, "No one ever said I was a fighter in The Arena, our king simply asked me to join so you wouldn't barrel through the competition."

Zoro glared at him, "So you're one of Satan's dogs huh."

The fighter narrowed his eyes and crouched down putting one hand on the ground with his twin scythe at the ready in his other hand, "I am not one of his dogs, I am one of his loyal soldiers."

Zoro rolled his eyes and got into a close stance, "Same thing they both just mean you're Satan's little bitch."

The fighter growled at him, "I am not his bitch, I am Enoch a proud warrior of hell and I'll make you suffer for those comments mortal!"

Enoch charged at him, Zoro grinned at this, "Now that's more like it."

Though it was a probably bad idea to taunt someone that might be more powerful than him he just couldn't help himself, Enoch seemed to be much faster and stronger as Zoro was having difficulty keeping up with his movements and warding off his strikes. Due to this, his body was growing in number of cuts as few of Enoch's strikes manage to get past his guard. He growled in frustration at this and prompted to cover vital parts of his body in Haki in hopes that they would save him from a devastating strike. Enoch noticed the black material spreading over Zoro and chose to ignore this, continuing his assault trying to make Zoro suffer as much as possible before killing him.

This wouldn't have been that much of a problem for Zoro but he had already used up a large part of his remaining energy clearing out the rest of the fighters earlier so this fight was pushing him far past exhaustion. His strikes were becoming lax and Enoch is almost able to completely blow past his guard, this was very troubling and as he defended he searched for a way to defeat the opponent in the next couple of moves.

Feeling his exhaustion taking over he decided a gamble was the only option he had left, he left himself open hoping that Enoch would take the bait. Much to his luck, Enoch did, seeing an opportunity to end Zoro he dove straight in jamming one side of his twin scythe into the right side of Zoro's abdomen, Enoch started to cackle as he assumed that this was going to be the end of Zoro. But was surprised when Zoro not only remained standing but was also smiling at him, "What are you smiling about?!"

Zoro let out a pained laugh, "You finally stopped."

It took a moment before the realization hit Enoch but it was too late as Zoro already struck cutting the demon completely in half, "Never lower your guard unless your opponent is dead, though you'll never get to use that piece of advice."

Zoro slowly removed the scythe from his side and tiredly turned towards Satan, he gives him his a crazed grin and flips him off causing Satan to give a disappointed grunt. Zoro looks around to see that there were still a couple more fighters left and they were looking hopeful as Zoro was practically too tired to fight anymore, they tried their luck and quickly made their way towards him but no matter how tired Zoro was being defeated by them was almost impossible. Once they were within range Zoro made quick work of them, defeating them all before his vision even started to darken. Slowly walking over the corpses of the opponents he defeated he turned towards Satan who was sporting a very annoyed expression, he pointed his blade at him and called out, "I'm coming for you soon!"

The crowd remained silent for a moment after hearing his declaration before erupting in cheers, Zoro looked around tiredly and chuckled at the mindless beasts that were cheering for him before sitting down and leaning on his blade succumbing to his exhaustion. Satan gave him a displeased stare while strumming his fingers on his chair, "I didn't expect him to get stronger in this condition, this is quite concerning."

Harley who was standing to his side snorted, "He may be getting powerful but he is still a far cry from the strength you possess my lord."

He gives an annoyed look, "I don't fear for my life, that is something that he will never be powerful enough to take, what I fear is that his power may upset the balance of this kingdom."

Harley studied Satan carefully, "A simple solution would be to simply remove him, then he shall no longer pose a threat to anyone."

Satan turned towards her and glared, "If it was that simple do you think I would be worrying about it now?"

Harley stayed silent, "Exactly, it isn't his power I fear but those that support him."

Harley quirked her eyebrows in confusion, "Those that support him? I don't understand, there shouldn't be anyone here powerful enough to challenge you."

Satan sighs, "They aren't here but they are trying to, three particular powers stand out. I don't know who their power is very close to mine, one in particular who I believe may be a god of another pantheon."

Harley twitches slightly which doesn't go unnoticed by Satan, "So, you're saying that you may truly be defeated in the future?"

Satan turned away from her with a look of exhaustion on his face, "Quite possibly from the current measure of strength he may even outclass me, but he has yet to enter my domain so we shall see."

Harley nodded silently hoping that her feeling of excitement would go unnoticed, Satan quietly groaned knowing that he would have even more trouble on his hands as the days would progress. He turned to the unconscious form of Zoro, "I will enjoy crushing whatever hope of rebellion you incite into these pathetic creatures."

~A Few Hours Later~

Zoro jolted awake and quickly scanned the area around him, "Welcome back, you seem to end up in such bad shape quite a lot."

Zoro turned towards the voice to find Sarvia, he blinked for a second before sighing and falling back onto the bed. She chuckled at him, "You think you're gonna end up int he infirmary a lot?"

Zoro gave her a tired look, "With how things are going, probably."

Sarvia sighed at his answer, "Making my job so much harder damn."

Zoro closed his eyes with a slight chuckle, they sat in silence for a few moments before Sarvia spoke up, "So what happened? From what I heard you tore through most of your opponents with no trouble but near the end, you were getting thrown around by one of them."

Zoro sighed, "Satan sent one of his loyal guard dogs to spice things up."

Sarvia whistled, "So that's how you got so banged up, must have been rough."

Zoro grumbled and placed a hand over the gaping wound that he had received due to his gamble, "I could have easily handled it if I wasn't so exhausted then, the lack of good food is really hampering my ability to fight at a high level and it's really frustrating."

Sarvia shrugged her shoulders, "Well, that's to be expected, he doesn't care if you live or die he just wants to see you all suffer."

He gives her an odd look, "Does he care about you guys then?"

Sarvia pauses and blinks rapidly for a few moments before looking down, "I am unsure but I highly doubt that he would care about our well-being in any way."

Zoro forces himself to sit up, "Then why work for him?"

She sighs and gives him an annoyed look, "It is better to be the right hand of the devil than in his path. In this case, it would literally be in the devil's path then a figurative sense. Though I wouldn't talk about this with anyone else, Satan has many fanatic followers that won't stand this talk of revolution that you're stirring up."

Sarvia got up and walked away leaving Zoro alone to think about what to do, he knew first hand how much stronger Satan was compared to the entirety of the Six Wings and knew that they stood close to no chance of defeating him. That was only considering Satan himself, that doesn't even include the army of demons that work for him, the situation was looking very grim for him. He covered his eyes to mask the look of rage that adorned his face but his anger grew far too strong, he slammed the side of his hand into the post of the bed he was sitting in, denting it, "Fuck why does everything have to be so god damn hard!"

His frustration was reaching its breaking point as he failed to come up with a viable solution to his current predicament. He collapsed backward and gripped his face in a violent manner while letting out a howl full of anger that could be heard throughout The Arena. He stayed completely still for a few moments before shifting his hands off his face and getting out of the bed, he walked forward to punch the wall but paused at the sudden sound of a voice, _"Roronoa?!"_

He looked around searching for the voice but found nothing, he gripped his head and shook it thinking he was going delusional but the voice persisted, _"RORONOA!"_

He sat down against the wall pressing the sides of his head, "Who is it?!"

The voice disappeared for a second before returning even stronger, _"Who the fuck you think it is you little shit! If Ashura didn't ask me to I wouldn't have even tried to contact your dumbass."_

Zoro blinked finally recognizing the voice, "Volron? Where have you guys been I haven't heard anything from you guys in quite a while?"

He could hear Volron grumble at him, "That bastard Satan's set up a field that rejects any form of godly power within a certain area, the only reason I'm even able to reach you is because my powers are more centered on demonic energy then godly along with the fact that since I once possessed your body we became inexplicably linked."

Zoro sighed in relief, "Great at least I have some form of communication. So what do you want?"

Volron growled at him, _"I should flay you for the disrespectful tone you speak to us with."_

Zoro rolled his eyes, "Just get it over with jackass."

Volron grumbled a few profanities at him before continuing, _"Satan has gained Ashura's displeasure, you are his chosen warrior and he has been keeping you confined in his little playground for far too long. Soon enough we shall be arriving to tear his entire domain asunder and force the so-called king of demons to bow before the true king of demons my lord Ashura."_

Zoro whistled at this slightly surprised, "Never thought I would see the day that you would suck up to someone like this."

He could feel the anger just radiating from Volron as he continued, _"We are unsure if the passage of time moves differently in his realm compared to the current one but we should be breaking through his barrier and entering in roughly two weeks time, prepare yourself for our arrival."_

He could feel the connection cut off and could only lean his head on the wall and let out a loud chuckle, "Guess my problem just solved itself, now all I have to do is just cause some hell before I leave."

As he slowly walked out of the infirmary he glanced back at it one last time hesitating before shaking his head and continuing, he didn't have the option to hesitate anymore he would get out of this hellhole if it was the last thing he did.

**That's a wrap, so I'm back now. I'm really sorry that this chapter came out a lot later than I had told you all prior to my break but after returning I had so much shit to go through and that still stands now. The new school year has already swamped me along with the two bands I play in and trying to finish my volunteer hours and trying to find a job. I really didn't expect the next school year to be much more difficult than the past one but oh boy was I wrong, feel like I've already failed my math class (OOF), gotta actually start studying for school unless I want to fail my class completely. I just really haven't found the time to work on this and I greatly apologize for it, though I would love to say I'm going to be consistently working on it from now on I won't cause that would just be an outright lie. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update but I'll try my best so not to disappoint you guys, but that doesn't change how little time I have to myself in any way. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	44. Demon of Zero

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Triselor shuddered a bit before speaking, "Ok, I'll bite. What's with the smiling man? You're creeping me out."

Zoro turned towards him confused, "Smile? What smile?"

Trislelor gave him an unbelieving look, "Dude, either you don't know you're smiling or you're fucking with me man and I don't like either."

Zoro raised a hand to his face and felt that his face was shaped towards a smile, "Hmm, I didn't even feel like I was smiling."

Triselor just stared at Zoro like he was some of kind of monster, "Start talking man, either something good happened or you aren't Zoro."

Zoro simply waved him off and continued his katas, Triselor rolled over and glared at him, "Come on man don't just stay silent, the smile is creeping me the fuck out."

He shrugged, "Is it wrong for a guy to smile?"

Triselor shook his head, "It isn't but you don't smile, it isn't something you do."

Zoro chuckled at him and lowered his blade, "Well, I guess you should get used to it then."

Triselor sighed and laid back down on the ground, "You really going to leave me in the dark here?"

Zoro sheathed his blades and found his own little corner to rest, "There are some things that are better left unsaid."

Triselor groaned and grabbed a plate that was left in their cage chucking it at Zoro who grinned and sliced it in half with ease, Triselor just rolled his eyes before flipping over and trying to go to sleep. Zoro shook his head with a smile on his face and quickly talked to himself, "Just a week and a bit to go, I have that much time left no point in sitting on my ass the whole time."

Triselor popped his head up, "You say something?"

Zoro shook his head and triselor grumbled something incoherent under his breath but Zoro just ignored it, continuing on awaiting the next time he would be released from his cage and beset upon the Arena once more. Just the thought of the bloodbath to come was causing his blood to boil and he could hardly wait. His opportunity would not emerge for another couple of days as Satan was still wary of him, Tom and Doug would soon arrive at his cage once again, "You're up again fucker."

Zoro popped an eye open and saw the two of them and gave them a little smirk, he yawned and sat up, "Took him long enough, knew he wouldn't be able to keep me out of there."

Tom rolled his eyes and scoffed, "No one gives a shit, let's just get going."

Zoro climbs out and slaps Tom hard on the back before giving him a menacing look accompanied by a crazed smile, "If I ever get out of here, I'll kill you first."

Tom pretended not to be bothered by Zoro's threat but it was evident by the expression of fear on his face that it was, he turned around trying to mask his fear and angrily walked away, "Hurry up already!"

Zoro chuckled at this and turned towards Doug who was oddly quiet for once, "What's wrong with you?"

Doug shook his head, "Things aren't going well."

Zoro quirked an eyebrow, "With what?"

Doug sighed, "A lot of things but mainly everyone down here."

Zoro paused for a second not entirely sure what he meant, but he didn't speak up as Doug continued, "I'm not exactly sure why but everyone just seems to be on edge, I can't seem to figure out why though."

Zoro narrowed his eyes and kept his mouth shut not completely certain if it was caused by him or not, seeing as Ashura was slowly making his way here because of him. He decided to feign ignorance for now, "We'll just have to wait and see if it amounts to anything."

Doug sighs, "Yea, I hope it doesn't though, things are already bad to begin with don't need to add more to this trash heap."

Zoro shrugs his shoulders prompted to disregard everything Doug had just told him to focus on what was to come before him, it seems that to compensate the loss of one of his "loyal warriors" Satan had decided to starve Zoro even further. So with these conditions, Zoro was growing stronger yet weaker simultaneously, though with practically no energy anymore he was growing weaker much faster than he was growing stronger which was coincidently putting him on edge too. It was a very frustrating situation but there wasn't much he was able to do about it leaving him only able to ride the wave and hope it doesn't lead to his death.

Though as he progressed that seemed less and less likely to happen as he would have to fight stronger and stronger people as he himself grew weaker, he would complain but that would just be a waste of energy and that's something he can't waste any of. He was still unsure of his own survivability as he would soon face off against the 2nd Class, though the 3rd Class was quite weak he still ran out of energy before finishing off all of them and then was drained even more as he proceeded to fight Enoch. Though he was also hoping that with this battle he would receive his last blade back, Satan was odd with giving them back to him and he felt that it was a bit suspicious but he would do practically anything to get his blades back.

They slowly approach the familiar gates of The Arena and Zoro let out a deep sigh knowing that the next couple minutes was going to physically drain more than he would want to, but he continued forward without a second thought. If it wasn't for the reward on his head he would have been able to keep his stamina a bit more as not everyone was instantly gunning after him but he wouldn't get the luxury. The only good thing about ascending would be that there were fewer people with each class, though that was only trading quantity with quality.

Finding a spot to ready himself he looked around studying the opponents he would have for this battle, flexing his body a bit he got into a ready position and looked up disappointed that Satan didn't put his last blade as a prize for him winning. He narrowed his eyes and took slow deep breathes as Satan finally commenced the battle, none of his opponents really stood out to him which was good as they were less likely to cause him much trouble. This time instead of fighting brashly he decided to let them all come to him and take them all out in one fell swoop, he gets into a stance with his blades horizontally above his shoulders and glares at his opponents taunting them so they would charge recklessly at him. The bait would work for some of them but not all but Zoro wasn't one to complain about decent results, about half of the warriors decided to charge at him at that moment and Zoro saw it as his opportunity to strike, "Nitoryu: Nanahyakuniji Pounndo Ho!"

He struck at an angle so to catch out as many of them as he could maximizing as much damage as possible, the attack hit a large part of the striking force but to his annoyance, some of the warriors that were struck were able to recover. This would only create more work for him which is exactly what he didn't want in his current situation. Growling at this he changed his stance to meet the oncoming warriors that were too close to try a projectile strike, he waits a moment for them to get close enough before unleashing his next move, "Nitoryu: Sai Kuru!"

The Tatsumaki like strike tore through most of the warriors that were closing in on him, and the few that managed to escape being struck down by the attack were swiftly dealt with as they were too disorientated to stop Zoro. He was happy with the results as playing things smart like this reduced the amount of energy required to finish off the rest of his opponents, he looked at the rest of his opponents to find that they all seemed too afraid to fight him which does give him time to catch his breath a bit before slowly stalking towards them. He pointed his blade at the remaining warriors and called them out, "This is what you warriors amount to? A bunch of weak and afraid demons who call themselves warriors? Don't make me laugh, none of you should have stepped onto this field with me! All you're doing is making a mockery of the true warriors, and that is unacceptable to me, come now weak ones come face your death like true warriors so you may retain even a smidge of your delusional pride!"

The taunt went perfectly as they completely disregarded their fear and went straight for him, consumed entirely by their own arrogance and rage. All Zoro could say to this was, "Too easy."

As they quickly approached him he prepared another projectile, "Nigiri: Toro Samon!"

A much larger amount of them managed to avoid the strike than he had anticipated but Zoro remained calm as they closed in on him, he waited for them to be within arms reach before attacking, "Nitoryu lai: Rashomon!"

A brutal attack to use on a person but Zoro didn't take heed of it and spun around to face the few warriors that were behind him, the horrifying display or Zoro cutting straight through so many of them caused a few of them to freeze in fear and Zoro took full advantage of this as he mowed them down quickly. He was trying to effectively balance out speed and efficiency as he didn't want to use up the minuscule amount of energy he had. He kept an eye on every single one of them just in case Satan tried to pull the same trick again but it seems that Satan decided not to meddle in this match, which is very fortunate for him as he highly doubted that he would be able to pull off what he did last time as he was still recovering from the huge stab wound that he received last time.

The battle ended anti-climactically as Zoro faced no good resistance as him cleaving about ten people with one move managed to install a fear within the rest of the warriors that they could barely put up a proper fight against him. It was somewhat disappointing to him but he wasn't going to complain as that required much less effort to do than facing people that would actually put up a fight. He glanced up to see Satan with a distracted and dissatisfied face, Zoro would have assumed it was due to him but this was not the case as he noticed that Satan wasn't even looking at him. He was looking at the side of The Arena, at something that wasn't there or something that Zoro was unable to see as he found nothing in the general direction that Satan was looking in. He shrugged his shoulders and shook the blood off his blade before sheathing them, he headed towards the exit without a second word before Satan spoke up, "Congratulations Roronoa, I decided that pitting you against the 1st Class would simply be a waste of them as you'll simply barrel through them like you did all the other classes. From today forth your battles shall be within the 0 Class, may you not disappoint as you fight our strongest!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd as they watched Zoro be instated into the 0 Class, Zoro didn't know what to think of it. It seemed highly suspicious and he knew that Satan wouldn't do this for no reason at all, he definitely had a motive and Zoro didn't like that at all. He gave Satan a narrow look before walking away, the bad feeling was growing stronger but it was unlikely to play out until his next battle so he had time to try dissect the situation properly. He would have to tread carefully lest he wishes to forfeit his own life, but that would come later now he would have to recover his strength. Though he suffered no extreme injuries after this round he was still quite exhausted from the battle, he cracked his neck and hopped back down into his cage. This surprised Triselor who yelped before stuttering in embarrassment, "W-where the h-hell did you come from?!"

Zoro ignored him and collapsed face first with a content sigh, Triselor used his foot and lightly poked him, "You still alive there?"

Zoro only gave him a tired groan in response and Triselor chuckled in response, "So I take it things went well."

Triselor knew the answer without Zoro even answering so he continued, "So anything special happen this time?"

Zoro slowly rolled onto his back, "Well, he decided that fighting the 1st Class would simply be a waste of time so he just made me skip over into the 0 Class."

Triselor blinked once, then twice, "Hold on, what the fuck?! Seriously?! Isn't that a good thing?"

Zoro glared at him, "How the fuck is that a good thing?"

Triselor quirked an eyebrow at him, "You know that once you're in the 0 Class, the only times you fight is when someone requests a duel or when Satan himself calls you to the stage himself."

Zoro paused and sat up with an incredulous look, "Seriously?"

Triselor vigorously nodded and Zoro brushed a hand over his head with his face showing that he still couldn't believe what he was hearing, it takes a second before he laughs at the notion, "Highly doubt that I'll get my break, Satan is definitely out to get me so I'm bound to be sent out to fight once again."

He hmmed aggressively and closed his eyes with his hand under his chin indicating that he was deeply contemplating what Zoro said, in return, Zoro took the empty bowl that was left in their cage and tossed it at him. It bounced off his head and caused Triselor to yelp once again while rubbing his head, he turned towards Zoro and glared at him, "Well, we never know until it happens but I suggest you just relax with the time you have, especially since you always seem to be constantly training whenever I look at you."

Zoro sighed and rolled over closing his eyes, the sinking bad feeling in his gut did not diminish it only grew the more he thought about it. He shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts and told himself that things were going to end well, but what he didn't know was that Satan had planned his every single step out and things were about to get a hell of a lot worse for him.

~Three Days Later~

He was awoken by a deep rumbling a scream, immediately got up entering a ready stance with his hands hovering over the hilts of his blades as he searched for the source of the disturbance. Shaking his head to rid himself of his drowsiness he finally gets a good look at what was happening, the cage that he was in before was being transformed as parts of it tore open and was replaced by other parts, while the scream he heard was as he had expected was from Triselor who had also just awakened to this odd sight. He narrowed his eyes confused at the situation, he looks around and finds the smiling form of Satan hovering above their cage, "The fuck's this?!"

Satan chuckled at this and slowly lowered himself down to them, "Well, you're part of the 0 Class now. Don't you think you deserve a living space befitting of one?"

Zoro glared at him and immediately went for his blades but Triselor grabbed his hand before he could, shaking his head as a sign to stand down. Zoro grumbled quietly to himself but compelled as Satan's smile widened, he gave Satan one of the dirtiest looks he could muster before speaking, "I don't like the fact that you changed this place I would have preferred more food then shifting my sleeping conditions."

Satan slung his arm over Zoro's shoulder, "Now, now don't be like that. I'm doing a favor for you, don't be an ungrateful little twat and just accept the gift."

Zoro pushed Satan's arm off his shoulder, "It isn't much of a gift if you're forcing it on someone."

Satan gave him an annoyed hum before continuing, "Well, Triselor here has most likely informed you of the priveledges that the 0 Class, so do enjoy your opportunities but be sure you don't become complacent. I can force you into a match whenever I want and so can the others of the 0 Class."

The threat was passed on without any change in Satan's pace as he chuckled lightly after saying so not letting his facade of the monster out, Zoro let out a deep growl and grabbed onto Satan before he could leave inciting Triselor to yell at him in fear of what Satan would do to him, "Now you listen here, we both know what's to come and I can tell that you aren't assured of your own victory but this place is sure as hell going to be completely destroyed so try not to push your luck too far demon or you'll suffer far more than you think."

Satan looked at him slightly shocked before his face grew serious, "What are you implying?"

Zoro scoffed letting go of Satan and adopted an arrogant smile, "Who knows, we'll just have to wait and see."

Satan narrowed his eyes at Zoro thinking of something to wipe the smile off his face but came up with nothing as everything Zoro said was most likely correct, his face gained an infuriated look for a moment before he returned to a blank look, "You best remember that you are still in my domain mortal, though in a few days many things may change I am still able to flip your entire existence into a personal hell, so you shouldn't be pushing your luck much either."

With an annoyed huff, he spun around and shot out of Zoro's cage, though he knew that he still wasn't in the clear he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to piss Satan off. His thoughts were interrupted when he was suddenly smacked over the head by a tray, he stumbled a bit and spun around searching for his assailant to find and enraged Triselor, "The hell was that for?!"

Triselor growled and chucked the tray at his face, "What was that for?! Why were you pissing off the ruler of fucking hell?! I knew you were dense but everything has its limits, you idiot!"

Zoro easily swatted the tray away and gave Triselor an annoyed look, "Ohh quit your bitching already, everything I did was justified in its own way."

Triselor looked ready to choke out Zoro, "How was that justified?!"

Zoro waved him off with a yawn and laid back down, "Things are going to change soon, choose your side before it begins or you'll get grouped in with the rest of the people here."

Triselor paused for a second and gave Zoro a confused look, "Fuck's that suppose to mean?"

Zoro rolled over already falling asleep, "I've already said enough, time for you to figure things out yourself."

Triselor glared at Zoro, "Great fucking help, I still have no idea what's going on."

But Zoro was already fast asleep as indicated by the sudden snoring, "Man this is too much stress for me."

He sat back and stared at Zoro's prone form, "But he seems too confident for this to be some bluff if he actually has a way out of this hell than aligning myself with him would be a good idea. But if it fails?"

He paused scared of the answer to his own question, with one last look he retreats to a corner contemplating what could exactly happen in the days to come.

~The Next Day~

Zoro sat up content that for once he wasn't awakened by some kind of disturbance, he stretched and looked around. He ignored the still asleep form of Triselor in the corner, with the changed that Satan made yesterday he found a staircase out fo the cage that he was in. He quirked an eyebrow and shrugged taking it at face value, climbing the steps he exits his cage and is immediately met with the sight of Tom and Doug who were lounging at the top. Once they notice him they jolt up and head towards him, Zoro gives them an odd look, "What are you guys doing here?"

Doug answers before Tom could say anything, "Satan assigned us here to keep track of you, but that isn't the point, you've been challenged."

Zoro narrowed his eyes, "Already? I only entered the 0 Class a couple of days ago."

Tom answered this time, "Well, your luck seems to have run out, the one who challenged you is Agon the Tormentor, the most brutal warrior of the 0 Class."

Zoro sighed knowing that this opponent was most likely going to be very difficult, unlike the one he had faced prior to his admittance into the 0 Class, though going by how strong Rujin was this should have been easy for him though Rujin did say that the rest of the 0 Class was likely stronger. He never heard any mention of an Agon but with a title like tormentor he could already imagine how much of a psycho he was, with a groan he turned towards the two of them, "When is the fight scheduled?"

Doug tilted his head up closing his eyes and made a face that looked like he was thinking hard about it, he heard Tom grumbling under his breath, "Damn this idiot he already forgot."

He gives Zoro a pointed look, "The fight's tomorrow, so you should get ready for that."

Zoro nodded and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, is there any food?'

Tom pauses and turns towards him and looks at him like he was some weirdo, "Food? Why are you asking about that?"

Zoro rolled his eyes, "Well, if you didn't know someone seems to be trying to starve me out so far. Now that I'm in the 0 Class shouldn't there be a food benefit of sorts?"

Tom shrugged his shoulders, "Don't think so, though you could just rob the other fighters of their food that works too."

Zoro narrowed his eyes clearly not liking the idea though he knew that if things got really bad he might have to resort to such an underhanded tactic so to survive, he grew annoyed at the fact that he was considering doing such a thing. With a growl, he walked past the two of them in search of something to entertain him, he wandered the halls of the Arena once again though this time no one seemed intent on dragging him back to his cage. Thinking back to when he fought Harley he remembered his encounter with the champion, this piqued his interest and he worked to return to where the champion was to study who may be one of his future adversaries. After many minutes of careless wandering, he finally came upon the spot to find that his bloodstains were still there, he chuckled at this before scanning the cages that were around it in search of Tyrranth, "So you've returned."

Zoro snapped towards the voice to find the person he was searching for, he was once again sitting alone in the dark of his gigantic cage his frame towering over his own. Zoro stayed silent as Tyrranth continued, "I've been hearing how you've torn through all the other warriors, congratulations little man. Though I must say the 0 Class are more powerful than you may think we are you best not underestimate us due to your past endeavors with those weaklings or you'll suffer for the arrogance."

Zoro stayed still as he answered being cautious of the unknown creature before him, "So I take it you're Tyrranth?"

The creature chuckles, "In the flesh. So what are you here for little man."

Zoro lowered his hand so that it was still fairly close to his blade but not enough so that if he was attacked he would be unable to effectively defend against it, "Just here to see if you're all you're cracked up to be."

Tyrranth gave off a deep booming laugh and slowly stood up walking towards the bars of his cage, "Well do I meet the expectation little man?"

Zoro shrugged slightly surprised at just how big Tyrranth actually was, he seemed to be about the same height as Whitebeard which to a normal human already seemed like a giant. Zoro couldn't help but let out a whistle, "Jeez you're huge."

Tyrranth laughed at his reaction, "I am a bit abnormal for my kind."

Zoro had to ask, "What exactly are you?"

Tyrranth didn't seem like the average demon he would see here and he couldn't pin down any demon that would fit his description especially seeing as he looked more like a dragon due to the red scales that adorned his giant frame, "I'm a special kind of Dragon Beast, though unlike the rest of my species I don't possess the ability to shift my body but I do have abnormal growth."

This was the first time Zoro had ever heard of a dragon beast, but before he could say anything Tyrranth did, "I've heard that Agon has already gone and challenged you, it would be a shame if either of you were to die before the battle had even began."

The cold smile on his face sent chills down Zoro's spine, the last time he was too injured to fully grasp Tyrranth's power but it was made evident this time. Forget beating Satan he would be hard-pressed to even defeat Tyrranth. Zoro steeled himself and gave him a hard look, "Don't get any funny ideas, I'm not someone you can easily get rid of."

Tyrranth's yellow eyes gleamed as Zoro said that, "I hope you aren't just an arrogant little dog barking whenever faced with a challenge only to turn tail the moment he is asked to act upon that pride."

Zoro shifted his stance with his hands now on the hilts of his blades and was slowly leaking out his bloodlust, "Want to test out if I'm all talk, oh champion of the Arena."

Tyrranth's eyes lit up with anticipation and he put his hands between the bars of his cage before slowly pushing out forcing the bars to bend under his brute strength, he took a few steps forward and stared Zoro straight in the eye for a few seconds before letting out a loud booming laugh, "I like you, little man, you've got guts."

He lumbered past Zoro, "Though we'll have to see if your skills can match my own."

Zoro kept a careful eye on Tyrranth as he walked to make sure that he wouldn't just suddenly strike out at him, fortunately for him Tyrranth moved on without another word. Zoro let go of his blades watched as he left still cautiously aware of the threat that he posed, when he was finally out of sight he lowered his guard. He cracked his neck and started heading back to his cage, "I'm going to need a lot more sleep or food, but I'll search another day."

With a yawn, he made his way back to his now reformed cage to find Tom and Doug panicking at the entrance, "How the fuck does that just happen?!"

Tom yells back, "How the hell am I suppose to know?! No one knows who did it!"

Zoro narrowed his eyes and entered, "The hells going on guys? Why are you panicking so much?"

They turned towards him and Doug started off, "You haven't heard?!"

Zoro looked at them confused, "Heard what?"

Tom surged forward and lifted him by his shirt, "Don't tell me you fucking did it!"

Zoro adopted an annoyed look before crushing Tom's wrist so to let go of him, "You have to tell me what happened before you ask if I did it."

As Tom was cursing at his probably broken wrist Doug finally answered Zoro, "It's about Agon."

Zoro quirked an eyebrow and moved his hand in a circular motion so to tell him to elaborate and Doug did, "They found him dead."

He blinked once then twice, "He's dead?"

Doug nodded rapidly, "You didn't do anything did you?"

Zoro shook his head, "I don't even know what he looks like and all I did was walk around a bit."

He tuned them out and thought about what had happened, his opponent Agon who was supposed to fight him tomorrow was dead. He wasn't sure who did it and wasn't sure whether to take this as a blessing or not, Doug continued, "Please tell me you didn't kill him."

Zoro gave him an annoyed look, "Of course I didn't kill him, I already said all I did was walk around for a bit nothing hap-"

Zoro stopped mid-sentence remembering exactly what had transpired during his walk, Doug noticed his pause and called him out on it, "What's with the pause?"

He gave Zoro a worried stare but Zoro ignored it, he instead turned around staring down the direction which he had came from with a crooked grin, "You bastard so that's what you were doing."

He chuckled to himself and tuned out Tom and Doug completely heading back into his cage to get some rest for the days to come.

**That's a wrap, this was more of a build-up chapter than anything and finishing was kinda difficult cause I wanted to advance the story but didn't want it to just cut off in the middle of the chapter to be continued in the next one. So some of this chapter may seem a bit dragged out and I apologize for it. The next chapter or two will be a bit difficult for me as fight scenes are a bit difficult for me to write and the next two chapters would be mostly just fights. Like I love fight scenes but I just can't seem to translate it in a good manner onto paper which really annoys me. I'm also trying to get back to my old writing schedule but that has been really difficult for me seeing as I only have rough ideas of how to progress things. Plus school has really been stressing me out especially my fucking physics and math class, never fought I would have to study this much for anything T_T, but I'll get through things somehow. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	45. Invasion

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Much to his luck they did give him more food than the minuscule amount they gave him before, he was very grateful for this especially seeing as Tyrranth was revealed to be the one who slew Agon. Few were outraged at him but most reveled in the brutality, Tyrranth topped this right after saying that the reason he did so was that he himself could challenge Zoro and by the Arena rules someone that is already challenged cannot be challenged again until the duel has been completed or one of them is eliminated. He technically wasn't going against the rules seeing as he just made it so he had the opportunity to challenge Zoro. He was unsure if this was good or not, at least he wasn't the one that Tyrranth had gone for that day but he would still have to face him, and the difference in power was a bit concerning. He was not confident that he would be able to take on such an opponent but he could do nothing but try as he was not going to just kneel and let them kill him, he was going to fight to his final breath if it was what it took but he won't surrender. In the hours to come any thought of his crew was disregarded as the battle to come consumed him entirely dashing away any other thoughts from his mind.

The countdown ensued as he meditated in preparation of his battle with Tyrranth, this was interrupted by an oh-so-familiar gruff and annoyed voice, _"Roronoa."_

Zoro didn't pause his meditation but engaged with the very temperamental demon, "What is it?"

His annoyance was made ever evident through the tone of his voice, _"Be prepared, we shall be entering within the next hour. While Ashura was tearing through the barrier an army of humans who called themselves The Six Wing emerged saying that they would enter hell to defeat the demon lord Satan. Foolish humans, they started spouting some crap about erasing all demons from this planet, I would have slaughtered all of them if not for that servant of yours. I believe her name was Nazuna."_

Zoro gave a hum in response and Volron continued, _"Try to stay out of trouble until we arrive, if you die before we get there then we just wasted all of our time trying to get you out just for it to be for nothing."_

Zoro shook his head, "No can do, things are already running and I can't avoid the match to come."

Volron growled at him, _"Then don't fucking die, easy as that. You can achieve that much right or are you that incompetent?"_

Zoro opened his eyes and gained an annoyed look at the conversation he was having was grating at his nerves, "My opponent is the strongest person in The Arena, second only to Satan himself and must I remind you that you were defeated by me."

This caused Volron to growl aggressive and spew a string of profanities at him which he promptly ignored, as he waited for Volron to stop cursing him out he laid back thinking of the time he spent here and what he was put through. Though it wasn't exactly an actual hell to him once he entered The Arena the first couple days with Harley was literally quite torturous, but from there, things fluctuated much sometimes things were great sometimes they weren't. He wouldn't say that his time here was enjoyable in any way but the time he spent here did make him stronger, a person grows by leaps and bounds when adversity is being constantly thrown at him. Which was exactly what had happened, though he was far from the strength required to take on the Marines he was progressing quite efficiently.

Though a complacent mindset was something he wouldn't want in his endeavor he would still appreciate how far he had come, as he tuned back in he noticed that Volron had finally quieted down and decided to speak up, "So I should be expecting you and The Six Wings soon enough."

Volron grumbled back at him clearly displeased, _"As much as I hate to work with humans they will serve as dependable distractions as we extract you from the hellish landscape."_

Zoro quirked an eyebrow at this and smirked, "You really just going to grab me then turn tail and run? Didn't think you would ever do that, you constantly seem to be picking fights without knowing if you can beat your opponent or not."

More cursing ensued and Zoro could only lay back with a smirk on his face enjoying the outrage that Volron was experiencing, he would have his last little bit of fun before he would face his opponent. This time he didn't tune back into Volron's cursing and instead turned towards the entrance of his cage already sensing Tom and Doug approaching, they emerged both with uncertain looks on their faces. Zoro cracked his neck and stood up heading straight past them, "I'm guessing it's time."

They only responded with a nod to which Zoro chuckled at, "Don't worry things aren't going to end up the way you think it will, quite the opposite it will bring about something almost no one thought was possible. Well not by humans at least."

They couldn't think of a proper way of responding thinking that Zoro had finally buckled under the pressure and the idea of fighting Tyrranth and ended up going crazy. Zoro walked slowly knowing that the longer he took the better it was going to be for him at the end of it all, as he got closer to The Arena he could already hear the cheers of the crowd as they would witness a rising star against their reigning champion. He could feel the pressure not only from all the powerful beings that were witnessing this event but also the sheer pressure that the crowd exuded through their cheers. Zoro entered already tense as he felt his opponents aura burst forth the moment he entered, Tyrranth was standing at the far end of The Arena, his towering frame accompanied with a broadsword of the same size. He revealed a jagged smile when Zoro got closer, "You ready little man!"

Zoro didn't answer but also didn't take his eyes away from him, but before the battle would commence Satan spoke, "People of The Arena! This is a monumental day, an emerging combatant against our reigning champion! The results of this match is still uncertain! Shall we crown a new champion! Or shall our strongest prevail once more! Only time will tell!"

The cheers from the crowd grew stronger slowly overwhelming even Satan's booming voice, Satan shook his head with a smile and reached down bringing up something that Zoro immediately recognized. It was Sandai Kitetsu, the sudden appearance of his final blade garnered Zoro's attention which made it so he wouldn't notice the malicious smile that adorned Satan's face. But he would immediately conceal the smile and toss the blade at Zoro, "Here is your blade back, I know you'll need your all for the match to come."

He paused for a second before giving Zoro a smile that sent chills down his spine, "Don't disappoint us."

Apparently, that was the indication to start as Tyrranth bolted forward with his broadsword already midswing, this caught Zoro by surprise as Sandai Kitetsu has still yet to fall enough for him to catch. He gnawed at his teeth annoyed that he would have to avoid not only the strike but use of his finale blade for a bit longer, but without much choice, he took action dodging backward and unsheathing his current two blades. Tyrranth paused right where Zoro stood before and stuck his empty hand out to catch Sandai Kitetsu which look minuscule compared to his hand, "This your blade little man?"

Zoro stayed silent deciding to nod instead of talk, "Well, I would love to return it to you, but just handing it over wouldn't be any fun now would it."

Zoro growled in response clearly not liking the fact that someone else had their hands on his blade especially after he was so close to getting it back, Tyrranth gave him a sly smile and stuck the blade forward like he was inviting Zoro to try take it from him. But Zoro wouldn't bite knowing the disparity between them he wouldn't risk being careless with this battle especially with what was to come, he instead took a more defensive stance which caused Tyrranth's smile to drop clearly disappointed that Zoro wouldn't take the initiative in their battle.

He lowered Sandai Kitetsu before tossing it to the side and placing his broadsword in front of him with his face devoid of a smile, he was going to fight now he would no longer play around. Zoro heard him take a deep breath before his legs tensed up with so much force that the floor beneath him cracked like a giant had brought a jackhammer down upon it and shot forward at an alarming speed. Zoro rolled out of the way barely avoiding the strike and making a beeline for Sandai Kitetsu knowing that without his final blade his chances would be slim to none, Tyrranth intercepted him though bringing his blade directly down upon him. He could dodge this time and brought Wado Ichimoji and Shusui up to block the strike only to be forced to one knee as the power behind the strike was immense.

Zoro grit his teeth and knew that he wouldn't be able to hold back the massive broadsword much longer and got to work quickly, "Ichi Gorilla! Ni Gorilla!"

The biceps grew multiple sizes over and squatting down he took a deep breath before forcing the blade away from with enough force to cause Tyrranth to stumble a step back. Zoro didn't pause and dived for his final blade, being successful in his endeavor he tossed Wado Ichimoji into his mouth and unsheathed Sandai Kitetsu ready to face down Tyrranth now with all his blades. Tyrranth opened his mouth to say something but Zoro wouldn't let him immediately striking out, "Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

The projectile raced towards Tyrranth who was wary of it and decided to avoid the projectile in total just to see it crash into the wall behind him ripping into it and taking a couple of audience members with it. He whistled somewhat surprised and turned around to find Zoro shifting, "Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

They all watched in awe as Zoro changed his body, Tyrranth regain his smile clearly impressed that Zoro would have something like this under his belt. He decided that words were not needed and instead focused on the opponent before him. Zoro was already breathing heavily knowing that he was still far from his full strength and that using something like this was a sure-fire way to drain his stamina. But he had no choice especially against a monster like Tyrranth, he gathered all his blades pointing them all and Tyrranth and charged forward. Tyrranth smiled at this and also charged forward fully intent on meeting him head-on, "Ashura: Ichibugin!"

Tyrranth roared back at him, "Executioners Drop!"

The two strikes clashed violently as the two monsters tried to force the other back, but unfortunately for Zoro, Tyrranth was much more physically powerful. Dispersing his blades which caused him to crash into the ground, with a groan he gathered himself just to find that Tyrranth had leaped up into the air with his blade facing down fully intent on running him through. With a pained growl, he hopped forward avoiding the strike and got into an aggressive stance hoping to take advantage of the fact that Tyrranth may reveal a vulnerability after his strike. He did find one but didn't go for it as the smile on Tyrratnh's face cautioned him not to, cracking his heads he shot forward once more hoping that speed would be on his side. Diving to the sides and shooting towards exposed areas hoping that he would be able to wear him down, but Tyrranth kept up with him despite his large frame he was quite nimble only allowing a few of Zoro's multiple strikes to graze his hardened skin.

Quickly growing frustrated Zoro's technique grew lax and Tyrranth saw this taking full advantage of the frustrated warrior he baited Zoro in by pretending to stumble, Zoro didn't catch on to this until it was too late seeing that Tyrranth's blade was already aimed at him. He was successful in keeping the strike from being fatal by using two of his blades to block the strike but it was far from enough as he didn't have a solid footing so the strike sent him flying into the walls of The Arena. The sheer force from the strike was enough to embed Zoro into the wall and he was forced to push himself off from his suspended spot, he dropped to the ground with a raspy breath.

He stood up and already noticed that his vision was shaky, he growled and focused all his energy into his senses and nerves. He took a few steps forward and got into a sword stance that he hadn't used in quite a while, Tyrranth saw this and gave an arrogant smirk calling him out, "Are you going to try meet me head-on again? As shown through our earlier clash it should be made apparent that my strength greatly outmatches yours. So why try something that you know will ultimately fail?"

Zoro ignored his words knowing that responding to the taunts would only be a waste of energy, with exhausted breaths he charged forward towards Tyrranth. He knew that Tyrranth wouldn't let a challenge like this slide and also charged back, Zoro unleashed his strike, "Ashura Hakai: Ajimasuburesu!"

Tyrranth repeated the same attack expecting the same result, "Executioners Drop!"

To his surprise, Zoro's blade didn't clash with his instead they aimed straight for different parts of his body namely his limbs, head, and neck. He didn't expect Zoro not to defend himself at all and the surprise forced him to stumble causing his blade to veer just slightly off-target slashing Zoro's left shoulder. Zoro ignored the pain and continued forth with his strike knowing that an opportunity like this was unlikely to happen as catching an opponent off guard with an attack rarely works twice. Fortunate smiled on him for once as almost all nine of his blades found their mark though with varying results as Tyrranth's hide proved more durable than expected, he still caused quite a few injuries that are likely to slow him down if just a little.

Breathing heavily he jumped backward and regained his senses, he studied his opponents only to find that his strikes had not slowed him down one bit, he shot forward at an alarming speed. Slamming his knee into Zoro's stomach, a usual person would collapse forward after a strike like that but the amount of force behind it shot him up into the air at terrifying speeds. With that impact, Zoro was no longer able to keep his Ashura form intact and it slowly dissolved into purple mist and he flailed wildly in the air. After a few moments, he regains a few of his senses and tried to stabilize himself only to find that Tyrranth had unfurled a pair of hidden wings and raced after him. It took a moment for him to register how bad of a situation he was in before he took action, timing the incoming behemoth with his attack he struck out hoping for the best. First, he spun around ad released a projectile, "Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

Using the momentum from the projectile he readied himself midair, surprising Tyrranth once more. He growled through the pain and attacked, "Rengoku Oni Giri!"

Though Tyrranth didn't see it coming that didn't mean he was unable to block the strike as his massive blade, but the momentum that Zoro's projectile greatly outmatched the strength that Tyrranth could muster up in that instant. The result of this clash leads to both of them slamming back into the ground with Tyrranth gaining three very large and noticeable slashes on his chest, on the other hand, Zoro seemed barely lucid as his senses were completely overwhelmed with pain and a loud ringing. He shook his head multiple times in an attempt to rid himself of the ringing but to no avail as it persisted, Tyrranth, on the other hand, was functioning completely normal. Though he had a few large cuts and a look of rage that no one has ever seen adorn his face, "You miserable little bug."

He got up quickly and stomped towards him, Zoro tried to get up but the moment he did he was met by the flat side of Tyrranths broadsword. He was using it like a bat and it slammed into him fully most likely causing multiple broken bones, the ringing in his ears disappeared but was replaced by immense pain and an unclenching headache. Wado Ichimoji had already fallen out of his grasp and his hold on his other two blades was growing limper by the second as Tyrranth approached him, "I was going to give you a quick death but you have aggravated me far too much, now I'm going to enjoy crushing your body to powder."

Clenching his teeth Zoro tightened his grip on his blades and tried to stand up only to have a large foot slam into his side dragging him along to wall before tossing him at a different spot. He never thought he would see the day that he would be punted, his thoughts wander as he knew that staying lucid was an impossibility at this point. Tyrranth proceeded to ragdoll him throughout the entire Arena with no end in sight, until he was once again thrown high into the air this time unable to resist Tyrranth put his full weight into slamming Zoro into the ground demolishing the ground beneath him while doing so. Tyrranth stood slowly with a triumphant smile on his face as he stared down Zoro broken body, he lifted Zoro's bloodied body up and chuckled at his handiwork, "We could have avoided all of this if you only just played to the crowd a bit before submitting, but you were so stuck in your ego that you thought you could challenge. How pitiful, instead of dying a warriors death you die as a human that could do nothing but be slaughtered."

Zoro slightly opened up one of his eyes and spat blood in his face, "Piss off you dragon bitch."

This set Tyrranth off, he lifted Zoro up and slammed him into the ground causing Zoro to cough up even more blood. Tyrranth glared at Zoro before lifting up on of his legs, sporting a smile he slammed it right into Zoro's right arm completely shattering it. Inciting a loud pained grunt from the already battered Zoro who was trying to manage through the pain without giving Tyrranth any more satisfaction then he was already receiving from it. Tyrranth gained a sick look on his face and he lifted Zoro up once again, "It was fun while it lasted but you've outgrown any measure of joy I could squeeze out of tormenting you, just die like the bug you are."

He flipped his broadsword around and balanced it right in front of his chest, "Have fun you little worm."

Tyrranth slowly pushed the blade into his chest trying to get the most pain out of Zoro's final moments, as the blade slowly pierced the entire Arena was rocked by an explosion that appeared by the entrance of it. Though most of the crowd stumbled Tyrranth stood stock still clearly not too affected by the enormous explosion, he turned towards the now broken gates and gave it an annoyed look, "What is it now?"

Tyrranth lowered his blade and narrowed his eyes trying to figure what had exactly happened when a purple bot slams into his side sending him reeling back from pain, he dropped Zoro the moment the bolt hit him. He glared angrily into the dust as he held onto his wounded side with blood dripping from his chin, he opened his mouth to speak again but was bombarded by an array of purple bolts forcing him back.

As the crowd descended into chaos the men of the Six Wings forced their way in slaughtering anyone they came across, at the forefront was Ashura followed by Volron and Decimation who all split off the moment they entered. Ashura shot up to Satan's balcony smashing it to pieces and tossing Satan away from The Arena, Volron who was wielding a spear had made a beeline straight for Tyrranth who was getting back up from the multiple bolts fired at him. As he passed Zoro he muttered to him, _"You owe me for this mortal."_

Tyrranth was met with the butt of a spear straight to his face sending him back, Volron followed after him clearly happy to be fighting someone again. Lastly, Decimation raced towards Zoro, he whistled upon seeing him, "Man you got really fucked up didn't you."

Zoro could only give him a gargle out a chuckle as Decimation reached him, Zoro laid there as Decimation raised his hand revealing a black flame which then transformed into Nazuna who had a worried look on her face, "We need to get him out of here now."

Decimation chuckled, "You don't say."

She glared at him and lifted Zoro up by his arms, as she did this Zoro managed to choke out a few words, "M-my swords."

Decimation cracked his neck and stretched his arms with a smile on his face, "We already got them, worry about them later worry about yourself for now."

Nazuna nodded to him though her glare still remained, she slowly made her way towards the gate in which they entered as the Six Wings slowly swarmed the entire Arena. Decimation watched them for a few moments before turning towards the warriors of The Arena who were emerging at a rapid pace, "Now let's get this going boys, the situation has really put me in a bad mood so don't try anything funny."

The smile never left his face but his eyes told a different story as he materialized a pure red blade in his hands, "Lest you wish for your remaining time to be torture beyond your comprehension."

This sent a chill down all of their spines and they all hesitated to approach him, he chuckled at this reaction and stalked forward slightly amused at the fear they exuded. Squatting down low he paused for a moment before launching himself into the group clearly intent on slaughtering every last one of them and that was exactly what he did as almost none of them were able to match him in both pure physical strength and martial prowess.

~With Volron~

He was getting annoyed as this dragon-like creature, the first two shots he had sent at it struck flawlessly but now that he was getting into close combat with it almost all of his attacks were avoided or blocked. Not only that but the creature was intent on taunting him throughout the entire ordeal as he believed himself more powerful than him, though Volron hasn't shown his full strength in the slightest he was still annoyed that such a creature would force him to draw out more strength. He took a deep breath to calm himself down but obviously had to speak up, "What? You already growing tired old man? You shouldn't have got in my way when you are this weak."

This caused Volron to snap he looked up and glared, without a single word he started spinning his spear rapidly after a few moments the spear caught fire and before long it was completely engulfed in flames. He set his eyes on Tyrranth who was looking at him cautiously, _"Come and fight me or are you too much of a coward little dragon."_

The taunt worked perfectly as Tyrranth charged at him without hesitation, using Tyrarnths own charge against him. Volron angled his spear like a pool cue and shot forward meeting Tyrranth head-on, he ignored Tyrranth's broadsword and completely focused on his own weapons knowing that if he did things perfectly he could end this fight in the next move.

Tyrranth struck out hoping to cleave him in half but noticed something off with Volron, as he continued forward he studied him to find that he wasn't going to defend against his attack at all, he gave him a confused look before noticing how the spear was angled at him. His eyes widened and in a last-ditch attempt to stop Volron from running a spear straight through his head he twisted his blade mid-swing to try block the strike. It was far from enough but it did allow him to divert the strike just enough so that it wouldn't lead to his demise, it did manage to pierce through the left side of his head tearing his ear off. He brought his broadsword down as a distraction and jumped backward to safety while holding onto his now injured left side, "You bastard! God this fcking hurts! Ugh, I'm going to kill you, you little fucker!"

Volron gave him a jaded look and started spinning his spear once again, _"Show me through your actions dragon or are you just all talk?"_

Tyrranth growled at him but wisely didn't charge forward again, he instead started to circle around Volron hoping he would charge at him this time instead of the other way around. Volron quirked an eyebrow at this and sighed clearly not amused, he suddenly stopped the rotating spear and spun towards Tyrranth taking a hard step forward before shooting towards him. This surprised Tyrranth but he was prepared, releasing his left hand from his ear he gripped his blade with both hands and tried to attack. But Volron's speed greatly outclassed his, every windup and strike was completely batted away by Volron who looked utterly bored at their battle.

In an attempt, he jumped back and held his blade over his head as Volron followed, he was hoping that he could overwhelm Volron with his brute strength, "EXECUTIONERS DROP!"

He watched with anxious eyes as his blade hit Volron's spear hard, he smiled at this believing that he had finally managed to force Volron to a stop only to find Volron's spear pierced through his right shoulder. He let out a pained yell and stumbled backward his broadsword already forgotten about, "How?! I saw my blade hit your spear you should have been trapped underneath it!"

Volron rolled his eyes and used the backend of his spear to slap him across the face, _"It's a little something called parrying. Have you ever heard of it.?"_

Tyrranth snarled at him and leaped forward hoping to grab onto Volron and rip him apart but Volron side-stepped it easily and brought his spear down on his neck, his spear went cleanly through without any resistance. He removed his spear quickly as Tyrranth started to choke as his entire throat was destroyed, Volron stood over him without a trace of pity on his face, _"You're weak that's all there is to it so die like the dog you are."_

As he choked on his blood he reached out to Volron trying to grab onto him in vain before ultimately collapsing in his own pool of blood, Volron glared at Tyrranth's limp figure before dissipating his spear and spinning around with a sigh, _"How the hell did Roronoa lose to him?"_

He started walking back to the gate when a sudden explosion shook the entire landscape followed by a massive shockwave that was almost powerful enough to sweep him off his legs and send him flying, he was forced to stab his hand into the ground so that he wouldn't be blown away. Once it died down he looked in the direction of the blast and shot up to the remanent of the stands to try get a good look at what happened, once he reached the top he could only whistle with a smile on his face, _"I've almost forgotten how god damn strong you are Ashura."_

The landscape that was once the outside town of The Arena was almost completely flattened with massive holes and flames decorating the entire area.

**That's a wrap, don't worry I'm going to show the fight between Satan and Ashura, I just ended it like that cause I felt like it was the best way to end off this chapter. That's going to be next chapter so you can look forward to that in like two weeks or so, I'm finding a bit more time to work on the story than before but that's probably going to end soon though I hope not. So I finally went to a dentist last week and I found out that one of my teeth that should have come in four years ago still hasn't come out yet cause my wisdom tooth grew too big and stopped it, so now I need to go to a surgeon and get my wisdom teeth removed, fun, but along with that I also need to get braces so to pull that tooth back up which is not fun. Especially since I play the trumpet in my concert and jazz band so with braces I'm going to be bleeding from my mouth a lot more than before which really sucks. Honestly, I just feel a bit down about my week entirely but at least school is lessening up a bit for some reason which I'm not going to question. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	46. Battle of Gods

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

When Zoro said that things would happen what Triselor didn't expect was a full-blown invasion of hell, something that seemed like an impossibility until today. He was scurrying around searching for a safe place to hide as he was still digesting what was happening, this was proving more difficult as the Six Wings came flooding in. A few of them noticed him and started chasing after as they seemed intent on not letting a single demon escape here alive, even though he wasn't a demon they couldn't tell the distinction as they slaughtered endlessly. After a bit of running, he would be pulled into a room, fearing for his life he tried to strike the person that had grabbed him only to be flipped onto his back with his assailant bending his arm behind his back with a knee on his shoulder. He struggled and shouted as the person tried to speak so he didn't hear a single word until they slammed the knee deeper into his shoulder inciting a pained whimper, "Finally, you shut the hell."

He didn't speak as the person loosened up slightly, "Making a big noise is a bad idea especially with them all out there, better to stay quiet as they ransack everything."

Triselor spoke with a hoarse voice as he was tired from running, "Who are you?"

The person let go of him and sat down in a chair taking a cigarette out, "I'm Sarvia, the medic you know."

He let out an ohh in response before shutting up obviously still scarred out the men outside, Sarvia who was less scared gave a tired sigh, "Don't worry if they do come in they won't be able to kill us."

Triselor looked at her surprised, "They won't? Why?"

She chuckled trying to mask her nervousness but it was evident, "I've rigged the place with a few bombs so that the moment I press this button we all blow, better than dying by their hands. Right?"

Triselor gave her a conflicted look, "I guess?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Well, nothing to it we're trapped in here anyway might as well die on our own terms."

They sat in silence for a few moments as Sarvia tried in vain to hide how nervous she actually was and Triselor didn't even try to mask his nervousness as he was so jumpy, constantly twitching and shifting at any sound. This would continue until a sudden banging at the door caused both of them to jump, they stared at the door unsure of what to do until it banged again. Sarvia grabbed the trigger and kept a careful eye on the door trying to stop her shaking as Trtiselor hid in his corner scared out of his wits. The next bang was the final one as a bloody figure slammed through the door, Triselor squealed in fear as the figure groaned and tried to get up. Sarvia who moved back started yelling, "Back up or this whole place is going to be blown to bits with you in it!"

They heard a groan as the figure got up, they recognized who it was though, "Harley?! What are you doing here?"

She looked up one of her eyes closed due to the blood cascading her face, "Who is it?!"

Sarvia took a step forward, "It's me, Sarvia."

Harley let out a sigh of relief before dropping back down, Sarvia carefully stepped forward, "What happened to you?"

Harley got up slowly before sitting down against the wall, "I thought they only brought a large number of people and that we could simply beat them out with how strong we each individually are, but there was one guy that tore through Tyrranth with little effort before turning towards the rest of us. After taking Tyrranth down the remaining warriors were barely able to put up a fight as he slaughtered us, I barely managed to escape him before ending up here."

Sarvia shouted towards Triselor, "Go grab some bandages for me, she's going to need it."

She didn't receive a response and she called out again, "Triselor, go grab the bandages!"

Not getting a response again she turned around ready to chew out Triselor only to find him cowering in the corner as a figure pointed a spear at him, her words died in her throat and she froze for a second before steeling herself to press the button. But as she was about to do it the figure threw a dagger at her piercing straight through the trigger and her hand, "Not a good idea, if you did that you might have actually put a damper on my good mood."

Sarvia stifled a scream as the pain kicked in, the figure retracted his spear and turned it towards Harley this time, "You shouldn't have run away, should have just stayed and fight like the warrior to claim to be."

Harley was barely conscious enough to respond, "Now, things can end up in one of two ways. Either you all surrender or fight back and die, the choice is yours."

Sarvia remained silent trying to contain her pain while Triselor was too scared to answer, the only one that responded was Harley who spat at him, "I'll never submit to you, my lord Satan will smite thee down along with the rest of you wretched heathens. No matter how powerful you shall never overpower my lord for he is a god."

The figure chuckled, "Let me tell you something, the two of us are much more alike than I wish it to be. Demons who live to serve a demonic god, the one difference I can tell you is that my god is more powerful."

With that final line, he stabbed his spear into her chest before unleashing a purple flame causing Harley to scream in pain before her entire body was consumed by the flames. He then turned towards Sarvia, "What is your answer?"

Sarvia bit her lip uncertain of what to do, instead, it was Triselor who spoke up first, "Did Zoro send you?!"

This had an odd reaction on the figure as he stiffened and scowled before turning towards Triselor, "No, I was not sent by Zoro. The idiot got himself beaten within an inch of his life and is getting dragged out as we speak, don't involve him in this."

Triselor gulped as the figure glared at him, "B-but you're o-on the same s-side as him r-right?"

This made the figure growl, "In a way yes. What is it to you?!"

Triselor threw his hands up, "Then I surrender! Just get me out of here!"

He sighed and retracted his spear, "What about you succubus?"

Sarvia only gave a nod knowing that to survive this was the only way to do so, the figure sighed and leaned his spear against his shoulder before turning towards the door and letting out a booming yell, "DECIMATION!"

They both stared at him in shock and confusion but was met with a blank look as it seemed like he was waiting for something, they stayed silent for a moment before another figure blew through the wall to their left with a head in his hands and standing atop a corpse, "What is it?"

The first one pointed back to the two of them, "Got a pair for you to take back."

The second one who they assumed was Decimation nodded and tossed the head away before pointing to the door, "Come on you two, want to get you guys out of here so I can continue killing these bastards."

The two of them quickly followed him as he left the room, as they headed forward they would run into a few more warriors but Decimation would make quick but brutal work of them tearing through them without any hesitation. After a few moments of walking they reached a giant purple vortex, Decimation pointed at it, "In you go, once you get through you should most likely run across Zoro and Nazuna."

They nodded their heads and quickly tried to enter but were stopped by a giant ax, they stumbled to avoid it. Decimation let a frown appear on his face as a huge figure emerged behind them, it was Ban of the Divine Six Wings who had a scowl on his face, "Why are you letting these demons pass?!"

Decimation narrowed his eyes clearly not pleased, "I can do whatever I wish, you have no control over us as we are the main reason that you are able to partake in this invasion."

Ban growled at him, "You think you're stronger than me demon scum?! I could crush like the gnat you are if I wanted to!"

Decimation shot forward grabbing Ban by the face before slamming it into the ground hard, he pulled back his hand and ignited his index and middle finger before rapidly striking multiple spots on Ban's body. Ban simply growled making it seem like the strikes didn't have an effect on him though he wouldn't move, "What did you do to me?!"

Decimation turned towards them, "Go now, it's less trouble when he isn't able to move and if you guys don't remain here."

As Ban continued to growl they slowly inched their way towards the gate before jumping through, Decimation turned back to the still struggling Ban and took a knife out hovering it above his neck in a menacing manner, "Now listen here you brute, I could care less about what you do unless it conflicts with what I do. What you just did just put me in a bit of a bad mood but I'm also in a bit of a forgiving manner so rush out to find some other prey or die here. The choice is yours."

Ban growled at him and was about to yell at him but was silenced as a sheathed smacked him in the face, Decimation looked up to see the smiling face of Seo. He chuckled at this, "Sorry about him, he's always like this though I am grateful you didn't just kill him."

Decimation nodded at him before getting off Ban and striking the same spots again this time releasing him, Ban immediately jumped up and tried to go at Decimation but was once again stopped by Seo's sheath. Decimation kept his eyes on them as he made his way out, "Wasn't your goal to defeat Satan, why aren't you guys helping Ashura fight him?"

This worked perfectly as Ban completely forgot his outrage at the way that Decimation manhandled him and ran off in a random direction yelling about how he would defeat Satan by himself. Seo chuckled at this clearly amused at how Decimation able to so easily figure out exactly how to distract Ban, Decimation turned to him carefully studying the man in case he was to try strike at him but was met with a smile and hands raised up, "Don't worry my demonic friend, I don't hold the same distaste for demons as my fellow allies do, I simply wish to rid the world of their leader. Eradicating the rest is still up for debate."

Decimation simply nodded before walking off, though he didn't completely trust Seo he was better than the warmongering barbarian Ban. Thought it was not his primary concern as the battle between Satan and Ashura continued as made evident by the multitude of explosions that discharged outside of the Arena. He shook his head and searched for Ashura knowing that if he was once again wielded by his god then he would be able to swiftly dispose of his adversaries, with a quick scan he shot forward hoping to reunite with Ashura.

~With Ashura~

Though it wasn't much of a surprise to him, Satan proved to be a mighty opponent as he was able to keep up with Ashura. Neither of the two were without injuries but they were balanced as one would not injure the other without the same being done to them. Satan grew tired of the exchanges but could do little as he was so far from his domain and this was Satan's domain so his power was very limited as Satan could grow ever more powerful as they continued fighting, "Come on now, why are we fighting? We're both demon gods we should be working together not fighting each other Ashura!"

Ashura narrowed his eyes knowing exactly what he was trying to do, _"My reasons to battle you have been set, you can not persuade me otherwise Satan."_

Satan growled at him, "You're willing to fight me in my own domain just for a simple human?! Are you mad! You're willing to cause such destruction and making an enemy of me just because of him!"

Slowly Ashura closes his hand in a fist causing a multitude of cracks to sound off before he formed a dark purple fireball in his hands, _"Does it matter if you're an enemy of mine or not, what matters is that you're in the way of my goal and I shall remove you so to achieve my goal."_

Satan replied with a deep snarl and shot forward through the air his longsword at the ready, Ashura responded by sending a slew fireballs at him most of which he had managed to successfully avoid before reaching him. Ashura clicked his tongue in annoyance and created a shield of flames to separate the two of them momentarily while he tried to create some distance between them. This didn't work as Satan simply barreled through the flames ignoring the pain that came with doing so, he swung at Ashura though he was just a bit short as all it managed to do was nick his clothes.

Though that wasn't the end of his assault as he grits his teeth and pushed forth violently slamming his shoulder into Ashura causing the demon to be sent flying back. Ashura was sent flying though he managed to right himself by twisting his body mid-air to avoid slamming into anything, he glared at Satan obviously very annoyed at their current situation. Gathering his power in such an environment proved to be difficult for some reason though he could only assume that it was due to it being Satan's domain, he wasn't going to give up but he was having a difficult time coming up with a stratagem to defeat a god in his own domain, "Need some help?"

Ashura let out a small smile as Decimation flew towards him already morphed into a blade, _"It has been a while since I have wielded you old friend."_

Decimation chuckled, "I'm not that old and that is true, I've been under Zoro's care for a while so you didn't really get an opportunity. Now, why don't we show this wannabe god what we're really made of."

He lifted Decimation so that his hilt was right above his shoulder with the blade facing downward, _"Now that I have a proper weapon let us see who is truly the one that is mad, Satan."_

Satan glared at him but did not charge at him once again, with Decimation being here for the first time since they fought he felt uncertain of his own victory. Ashura shot straight at him when he noticed Satan's hesitation hoping to test out just how much more powerful he was now that he was once again wielding Decimation. Satan raised his own blade to block the strike not amused at Ashura's meager attempt to defeat him, but to his surprise, with Decimation in his hands, Ashura proved to be a much deadlier foe as Ashura managed to overpower him causing both Decimation and his own longsword to slam into him. The combined force of all those elements had slammed Satan back down into the ground, though he didn't slack as the moment he impacted the ground he swung his blade upward causing a powerful updraft to slam into Ashura making it so he was unable to capitalize on Satan as he gathered himself from the strike.

Spitting Satan distances himself annoyed that he was somehow overpowered despite having Ashura on the ropes just moments before, getting up he swirls his blade around him gathering the flames that surrounded the area. As more flames came together he swung faster and faster before a firestorm erupted, he takes a second to breathe before swinging the flat side of his blade somewhat a the baseball bat at the firestorm. Which resulted in the storm being batted towards Ashura who had finally dispersed the updraft that Satan created, he saw the firestorm speeding towards him and frowned before waiting for it to get close enough before backhanding it so violently that the flames all extinguished, _"Do you think you are the only one with masteries over fire? If you truly believe so then you really are deluded."_

Satan snarled at him, "You think fire is the element I have control over you mongrel, I'll show you just how powerless you are compared to me!"

Satan lifted his blade up with the tip pointed down before stabbing it into the ground, once implanted into the ground he released his hands from the blade. Dropping down into a low stance he moved his arms in a circular motion, Ashura gave him an odd look but decided against any actions as he studied Satan knowing that Satan was trying something so he would have to prepare himself for anything. Satan swings his arms once around to no effect before taking a deep breath and releasing an intense aura while doing the same thing though this time the effect as the terrain around them shifted to the motion of his hands.

Ashura narrowed his eyes and held Decimation in a two-handed grip watching for any sudden moves that could indicate an attack. Satan continued this motion for a few more seconds before initiating an attack he stomped forward with his right leg and directed his straightened fingers toward Ashura, this resulted in the ground forming a spear shot towards Ashura at extreme speeds. Ashura narrowed his eyes focusing on the pike heading straight towards him, with Decimation in hand he parries the strike with ease, _"Is that all?"_

Satan grins at him, "Do you think that a simple strike like that was all I had?"

Ashura didn't have time to react before Satan made his next move, he took his outstretched fingers and snapped it back towards him like a snake. Just like before the pike responded to Satan's movements turning in the air before racing towards Ashura, he was given enough time to react as he brought Decimation down on the pike splitting it in half. He glanced back to see Satan just smiling as he moved his arms once again, much to his annoyance more and more pikes started to appear from the ground as he was assaulted by a multitude of pikes at once striking from different directions at quickly increasing speeds.

Ashura spent a few moments dodging and parrying the pikes away before it became too much as Satan created more and more to attack him, finally having enough Ashura shot backward before creating a ring of purple flames around him. The ring rotated all around him incinerating any pike that came close to him, Ashura glared at Satan clearly not amused at this situation. He resumed his earlier stance with Decimation facing down once again and concentrated on Decimation for a few seconds before spiked purple flames appeared on the edge of the blade making Decimation more of a jagged blade than a katana anymore.

Satan took a knife out and made a small cut on his palm, he held his palm tight and let the blood drip down onto the floor for a few seconds before cauterizing the cut with some flames. He looked towards the small pool of blood on the floor and sent a flame into it, Ashura watch confused but still on edge as Satan did this but his curiosity peaked when from the pool of blood a creature formed. It would take a few moments but that creature would finally form to become a clone of Satan, Ashura watched somewhat amazed though he would never let such an expression sow on his face. Satan looked at his clone for a few seconds before smiling and grabbing his longsword from the ground, he hefted it out and balanced it on his shoulder while crouching down.

Ashura saw this and shook his head knowing that the time to fight was about to begin once again, he stood ready to face Satan when he sensed a pike coming from behind him and thought nothing of it as the ring of fire still surrounded him. Though the smile on Satan's face was somewhat alarming there was nothing he could do as things stand now, Ashura stood stock-still waiting for Satan to do something but nothing happened. He lost a bit of his tenseness and at that moment another pike shot towards him, Ashura was growing weary of Satan's feeble attempts to strike him down, _"Come on, you're the king of hell you can't be this weak unless you're nothing but talk."_

Satan chuckled at this, "Keep thinking that you arrogant false god, in due time I'll show you just how powerful I am!"

Ashura sighed and tightened his grip on Decimation before taking a step forward, he was preparing to charge at Satan who was still crouched there with his blade over his shoulder but the moment he went to move multiple pikes came at him. He gave Satan a disappointed look, _"You must have learned by now that this doesn't work on me."_

But when he looked for Satan he found that he wasn't where he stood anymore only his clone remained who was controlling the pikes, Ashura frantically searched around for him to no avail as the number of pikes coming at him blocked out all of his vision. He calmed down and kept a watchful eye for the now missing Satan, but what he didn't notice was that Satan was hiding upon one of the pikes and was heading straight for him. As the pike he was on make contact with Ashura's ring he stuck his hand out catching the ring making it so that it wouldn't be able to stop the pikes from reaching Ashura. Ashura noticed this too late as he was finally forced to block the pikes again, Satan took this opportunity to strike as he dispersed Ashura's purple ring and put all the power he could muster into his arms swinging the blade in an arc at Ashura.

Ashura was too focused on blocking all the pikes to notice the powerful longsword being swung at him until it hit him, as it tore through multiple pikes and slammed into him grounding him roughly. He got up quickly with Decimation already in a blocking stance as he could feel Satan coming straight for him, he was correct as Satan brought his large blade down onto Ashura who managed to block it though it forced him onto one of his knees. Satan laughed maniacally as he tried to force Ashura further down, "You made one grand mistake here 'ASHURA', you never should have challenged me in my own domain!"

Satan lifted his blade for a moment before slamming it down with even more power than before, Ashura was holding out but he was unable to counter-attack. Satan was relentless as he kept on pushing down on the clashing blades, as Ashura focused on keeping the blade from splitting him apart, Satan twisted his body and delivered a devastating kick to Ashura arm causing it to falter for a moment which Satan capitalized fully on by rotating his entire body to maximize the punch in his next strike as he knew it would definitely land. He was correct as Ashura was met with a bone-shattering strike to his left side sending him flying back, Satan laughed at this and slowly stalked towards Ashura's downed body dragging his longsword behind him to accentuate the fact that he was closing in.

Ashura got up with a pained look on his face as he gripped onto his left side lightly hoping not to agitate his wound too much, taking a second to calm himself he released his hand from his side and put them both on the hilt of Decimation ready to face on the monster before him. Satan chortled at this, "I gotta say I didn't expect you to be this tough and I must say this fight was more entertaining then I thought it would be, but all good things must come to an end and with this next strike I shall close the curtain on your little invasion."

Satan slowly picked up the pace before he ended up in a full out sprint towards Ashura who had yet to move, Ashura took a deep breath before lifting up Decimation to his shoulder keeping the hilt just above it and the edge of the blade completely straight at the oncoming Satan. He stood still waiting for Satan to approach him knowing that moving in his condition was an unfavorable idea, the seconds till Satan reached him slowed down to minutes as he watched every muscle on Satan move so to decipher exactly where he would strike and how much power would be behind it. As Satan closed it Ashura saw that he would put it all behind his right hand as he did one full-body rotation to add to the power of the strike, with how he stood now he would be unable to move out the way to avoid a lethal strike so his only options was to face the beast head-on.

Ashura covered his entire left side in flames in hopes that it would be able to cushion the impact if even a little so it could increase his chances of a minor injury and stepped into Satan's strike. The two clashed once again with Ashura being sent flying as a result once again, though this time he had a smile on his face as he impacted. He crumbled to the ground unconscious for a moment before waking up with a jolt, he looked towards Satan and chuckled quietly, _"Heh, how do you like my present?"_

He was met with a scream of outrage as Satan fell to his knee gripping his right arm, or where his right arm used to be, "YOU BASTARD YOU WERE TARGETTING MY ARM THE WHOLE TIME WEREN'T YOU!"

Ashura painstakingly got up, _"Not really, but I had to try even things out as much as I could or the little children wouldn't stand a chance against you."_

Satan growled in pain with confusion written all over his face, "Children? What children!"

Ashura used Decimation as a cane to support himself before leaning against the wall for support, _"The children that are here to kill you of course."_

Before Satan could question Ashura anymore he was struck by a large ax, with this Ashura slid down to sit against the rubble behind him, _"Took the group of you long enough, I had to hold myself back so much just because you fools wished to kill him with your own hands."_

Ban was the first to arrive as he slammed into the ground roughly, he growled at Ashura before turning towards Satan rushing straight at him without another word. Seo was the next has he landed more gracefully with a smile on his face, "It seems you both had a hard-fought battle, now let us take over."

Ashura snorted, _"I've been waiting for you guys to hurry here so that I wouldn't have to deal with that man-child any longer, you took your sweet time coming here."_

No seemed to appear from nowhere and kept an eye on Satan who was just slammed into by a rage-filled Ban, he didn't utter a word as the rest of the Divine Six Wings arrived. Kano came flying through the air grinding to a stop, he looked around wildly before he came across Ashura who was sitting against the rubble. Without thinking he pulled his scythe back and shot towards Ashura hoping to dispose of him, though he was unsuccessful as a blue shield encompassed Ashura stopping the strike from connecting, "Kano don't do that, without his help we wouldn't have gotten this far."

They looked up to see Goda berating Kano as Aoi created a cloud to transport the two of them and Zest, as they were less physical, endowed compared to the rest of them. Kano scowled at this but didn't say anything, _"Well, Mister Strategist, I got your forces into hell and I've injured your target to a point where even your people should be able to defeat him so my work here is done."_

Goda sighed, "Not yet, though I don't doubt my comrades' abilities it is still an uncertainty to whether we can truly defeat him so I would much prefer if you stayed."

Ashura sighed at this, _"I assumed as much, well get going I'll be watching."_

Goda bowed to him before turning to the Divine Six Wings that didn't instantly rush as Satan, "Our target is before us and injured don't let him get away, this is the moment that we've all worked towards let us not squander the opportunity that has been presented before us!"

**That's a wrap, I'm really sorry that this chapter came out so late I was planning on working on it much sooner but I've been completely swamped for school. I've had test after test, project after project and far too numerous performances to practice for to the point where I'm actually stressing about things for once. Though this chapter is completely I'm just going to say that a few details may be a bit odd as the Divine Six Wings was something I introduced a while back and since I took a break for about two months I don't exactly remember everything I had showcased about them so a few details may be off(What I'm talking about is Kano, cause I'm not sure if I introduced him with a scythe but I just like that idea and probably a few more things). The next chapter will conclude the fight to defeat Satan, though I still feeling killing him seems off so I might play around with that at a later time, but after I don't know 3? 4? months I'll finally be finished with The Arena arc which was something that I was really excited about when I began it but dragged off in an odd direction. Though it didn't go the way I want it to I'm still happy with how things turned out, though I gotta say I need to stop introducing new female characters cause I ship OC's way too easily. But on that note, I'm hoping that I'll have the next chapter down in the next week or two if it is longer than that I apologize for making you wait so long. But once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	47. Mistakes

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

With Satan before them battling the enraged Ban, Goda enacted the plan that he had been concocting for the past couple of years, "Zest try to restrain him with your briars, No aim for vitals, Seo, you aim to restrict his movements as much as possible, Aoi you provide cover fire in case anyone gets caught out, and Kano stay back for the time being and gather your energy for the final blow your role will come in time."

Wordlessly the group sprung into action everyone flawlessly performed their task, though they performed their task perfectly their opponent was a very difficult man to kill. Even though he was missing an arm, though he would have regenerated the arm by now if he was given the time to do so, but with the Divine Six Wings relentlessly assaulting him he wasn't able to do so. They weren't damaging him in any way they were just like annoying gnats who constantly pestered him as he tried to regenerate, though out of the group the one he found the most difficult was that troublesome mage that was hiding in the back sending out a barrage of projectiles towards him. Out of the entire group, he was appeared to be the most powerful, Satan would have easily gone over and disposed of him but the samurai was keeping him back as the moment Satan extended out he would capitalize on it batting him towards the raging berserker who would just violently throw himself at him.

The three of them were causing enough trouble for him already but then there are the other two, the assassin that would disappear into thin air before appearing to take a jab at different parts of his body, and the woman who controlled the briars which rapidly swarmed him. Most of the time dealing with such weak creatures wouldn't have been much of a problem for him but he was feeling unnaturally weak after his fight with Ashura, in anger, he let out a yell along with a massive eruption of fire that forced all those around him to distance themselves and the ones in the back to watch cautiously. He turned towards Ashura while the fire was raging to be infuriated when he saw a smirk on his face, "WHAT DID YOU DO DEMON!"

Ashura shrugged his shoulders, _"I knew that they wouldn't be able to defeat you no matter how strong they were or how much damage I did to you, so I just added a little something to help weaken you."_

Satan growled at this and shot forward through the flames trying to reach Ashura his rage overshadowing any semblance of thought, but he was unable to as stumbled on his very first step gripping his mouth as blood dripped out. Ashura chuckled from his spot, _"You enjoy the poison I concocted?_ _It's quite a powerful thing, just making was enough to make me nauseous just imagine it entering your bloodstream."_

Satan snarled but with the blood filling his mouth it sounded more like a gurgle than anything as he had to quickly avoid a bolt of fire energy that was shot at him by Aoi who looked barely fazed by the excessive amount of fire surrounding them. Satan spat some of the blood out of his mouth before grabbing onto his blade and placing it over his back while squatting down, he glared at Aoi intent on barrelling through everything they would throw at him just to get to Ashura. He slowly started walking towards them before quickly picking up speed, Goda noticed this and turned towards the recovering Ban, "Stop him!"

Ban took a second to register the command before shaking his head and racing towards Satan who was quickly picking up the pace and closing in on the Ashura's location. Ban let out a loud roar and swung his giant ax at Satan, though none of them expected it to actually damage him not a single one of them expected Satan to bat it away like it was nothing and slam Ban face-first into the ground without breaking his stride and continuing forward. They all reeled in shock while Ashura chuckled, _"Knew it was far from enough to do him in, well this is all yours."_

Ashura got up with a groan and walked off as Satan continued forward knowing full well that the rest of them would have to stop him, Goda turned towards Zest, "Briars now!"

Then he pointed at Seo, "You face him head-on, I trust you to be smarter than Ban stop him without getting close enough for him to strike you down!"

Seo nodded with a grim look on his face knowing that this would be a lot more difficult than he would hope it to be, but he complied nevertheless. With his blade at the ready, he jogged forward to meet Satan who was accelerating quite rapidly, with a deep breath he steeled himself and waited for Zest briars to shoot past him. When they did he followed after hoping the briars would disrupt Satan enough for him to land a solid strike, as he pursued he was dismayed to find that the briars did close to nothing to him as Satan quickly approached him. Goda bit his thumb anxiously, "Aoi can you do anything to help retrain Satan?"

Aoi nodded and raised his staff, "Chains of the Damned!"

The ground shook for a moment before several dark glowing chains with spikes at their ends shot out from beneath the floor to entrap Satan, he was able to safely avoid the first few by dodging to the side but was met by Seo who delivered a cut onto his calf before kicking him back. He finally stopped and growled and that was all that Aoi needed to trap him as the chains wrapped around his ankled before the spike at the end embedded itself into his calf. He let out a pained yell before gripping at the spike trying to pull it out, Aoi strained himself to keep the chains attached to Satan as the demon vigorously tore at the weapon in his leg. Seo would take advantage of this momentary distraction to strike out, landing a solid strike across Satan's chest, it managed to cut deep into Satan's body but things weren't over yet. Satan reeled back from the strike but his legs were still chained down, enraged he let go of the chain and twisted his entire body swinging his massive longsword at Seo.

Seo managed to bring his katana up in time to block the strike though it did manage to push him back a bit, Satan wasn't done yet as he pushes his head back before swinging it forward and letting out an ear-drum breaking yell which was powerful enough to physical push Seo back. This managed to disorientate Aoi enough for the chains to be loose enough for Satan to slip through them and dashes forward toward the disoriented Seo, punching him roughly in the stomach sending him flying back into the group with a loud bang as he impacted the wall behind them. He didn't look fine and was unresponsive for a few moments before a blood-filled cough can through reassuring everyone that he was still alive, though in his current state he can't be expected to affect the outcome of the battle much anymore as multiple ribs were broken and a few of them were even poking out of his skin.

Satan roared and continued forward despite Zest and Aoi's attempts to restrain him, all of which were in vain as Satan unleashed another torrent of flames forcing them all back once again. At this point, Goda was becoming more anxious as Satan was getting closer and closer he had created an entire plan centered around Kano but he needed Satan to be restrained first and at this rate, it would all fall apart as he would be forced to use Kano much earlier than he wished to. He bit on his thumb looking around hoping to find a way to salvage the plan, he turned to No with a hopeful look in his eyes which immediately turned to despair as No shook his head indicating that he would be unable to do anything to Satan in their current situation.

He hovered over Kano for a second who stood blankly behind him though he could tell that he was awaiting his moment as he was gripping his weapon so hard that it was shaking. Goda shook his head deciding to keep Kano back just a bit longer before turning towards Zest and Aoi, Zest was struggling to create more and more briars as the sheer amount that she has already created was taxing on her greatly, Aoi was much better off than her but he seemed unable to figure out a way to subdue Satan, "Aoi! Is there anything else you can do?"

Aoi turned towards Goda with a strained look on his face before turning back towards the incoming Satan, he dissipated the chains and took a deep breath readying his staff for another spell, "Chrono Terminate!"

Everyone watched in fascination as a blue circle formed around Satan following his every move, in a matter of seconds Satan began slowing down rapidly before finally, he came to a complete stop. They looked completely awe-struck at this and turned to Aoi who was sweating profusely, "Go now! I'm not going to be able to hold him off for much longer!"

Goda nodded and quickly turned to Kano, "Go now!"

Kano nodded and shot forward with his scythe at the ready, as he closed in on Satan his scythe began pulsing with dark energy, Kano let out a loud yell right before impacting the frozen body of Satan, "Smite of Retribution."

Everyone held their breath as they watched Kano's scythe hoping that it would end all their misery as their final opponent a god would finally be defeated, all the years spent planning for this event would finally become a reality. To their joy, Kano's scythe made contact embedded itself into Satan's chest. Aoi seeing this released Satan from his time prison and collapsed onto the ground exhausted, they all watched Satan convulse as the dark energy entered his body. Everyone watched Satan convulse hoping that in the next few moments hoping that this would be lead to the death of Satan and it would appear to be as Satan slowly fell to the ground a pool of blood slowly growing around his body. Everyone let out a sigh of relief at this, all of them finally feeling that they would be able to relax now that Satan was dead.

Goda collapsed to his knees tears in his eyes happy that he and everyone else are finally free from the tyranny of Satan, they would forever be able to sleep knowing that their greatest enemy has finally perished. The group slowly gathered the only one of them that wasn't exhausted being Kano who had simply spent his time gathering his power and land the final blow when it was time to do so. They gathered around the collapsed body of Aoi who refused to get up, Zest was helping Seo hobble over while No and Kano walked over completely unharmed, Goda turned to them, "Is anyone going to get Ban?"

Seo strained to wave his hand in a dismissive manner, "It's fine, Ban is fine we'll get back to him later, for now, we can just sit back and recover."

They all shared a quite laugh at this all sitting back on the ground slowly letting the fact that they would no longer have to live knowing that the person that had committed all those atrocities to them and their families is finally dead. The mere fact that they managed to pull this off seemed so outlandish to him but they managed to do it which seemed so impossible to them, looking at each other they all laugh in joy at it this momentous event, "We actually did it didn't we?"

Goda who looked awestruck at the event let out an astonished huff, "I guess we did."

Goda shakes his head looks at the five people around him and smile at them before turning back around to check if Satan was actually dead, looking back at the body he is meet with a surprise, Satan's body was no longer where it once was. Goda shot to his feet with fear spreading throughout his body, "EVERYONE GET UP HE'S MISSING! EVERYONE STAY ON GUARD."

Seo and Aoi stayed on the ground not really in any condition to stop any attack, though Seo kept his hand on his blade knowing that he would most likely have to defend himself once the demon descended upon them. Goda for the first time since they arrived took up a weapon a small blade out, No and Kano stood at the front ready to meet the demon in the occasion he would rush them with Zest hovering at the back with briars already forming around the group ready to either attack or defend against any attack thrown their way though it was shown earlier that the briars did little to nothing against Satan she would still try her best. Aoi was slowly getting up from his collapsed position using his staff to hold himself up, though he didn't think he would be able to do anything against Satan with how he currently was.

As they huddled together hypersensitive to any sound or movement around them, they stayed dead silent hoping to be able to find Satan before he managed to close in on them. A loud growl drew the attention of the entire group and they were met by a warped version of Satan with armored tail along with armored plates covering his parts of his body unevenly, his eyes changed blood red with his fingernails elongated much similar to claws and he was foaming at the mouth. He was crouched down atop a rock growling and shaking while eyeing the group dangerously. He howled at them before shooting forward with such intensity that the stone that he was standing upon shattered upon him taking off, Kano went forward to intercept him knowing that within the remaining group he was the only one with the physical strength to ward off an attack of that magnitude.

He tried to block the human or more so demon missile that slammed into his scythe and he tried to battle it but Satan rocketing at him was more powerful than he was, which forced him into a split decision by directing the demon missile to the side before slamming the butt of his scythe into Satan face sending him into the side. He twirled the scythe and turned towards Satan prepared to strike him, but he was too slow as Satan had already recovered and shot forward claws directed towards him. He wanted to move but he knew that no matter how fast he moved he wouldn't be able to avoid a fatal strike from Satan, he grits to prepare himself for the strike to come. But he was saved by No who intercepted the strike saving Kano, he caught his claws with twin blades before spinning his body while dropping one blade and pulling out a small dagger stabbing it into Satan's side before jumping back.

While jumping back he grabbed Kano and got him out of the way so neither of them would be close enough for Satan to strike out at them again, though it wasn't much of a concern as though Satan was much faster and stronger he seemed to lack any cognitive thought at the current moment which they would be able to use to their advantage. Kano stayed focused on the bewildered Satan while calling out to the others, "Zest! Restrain him now while he's distracted!"

Zest quickly complied and her briars quickly latching themselves onto Satan's limbs, she quickly applied more and more briars knowing that in his current state he would be able to easily break through a simple layer of briars as if it was nothing. Satan started growling and tugging at the briars giving No and Kano a prime opportunity to attack, No brought out two small blades and shot forward while Kano followed after though a bit slower than No. They converged onto Satan, No aiming for the vital points on Satan's torso while Kano made a beeline straight for Satan's head in an attempt to decapitate him, Kano was surprised when Satan's tongue shot forward from his mouth and wrapped itself around the handle of his scythe holding him in place which left him in a vulnerable position. No, on the other hand, was proving more successful as he was able to land his strikes into the vitals causing deep cuts to appear all across Satan's body which would be helpful in the long run.

Once he distanced himself he circled around Satan hoping that his wounds would slow him down just for a bit but was forced to engage once again once he noticed that Kano was caught. He made a shot for the tongue hoping that he would be able to cut clean through so that Kano could easily escape, but the moment he got close Satan snapped his heads towards him and swung his tail at No at an incredibly high speed. No say it coming and brought his blades up to block it but it far overpowered him so he was forced to make a split-second decision and spun in the same direction as the tail was coming causing him only to flip while being repositioned. Satan growled and tore his hand out of the briars before pulling Kano closer to him before punching Kano in shoulder shattering it, before turning back towards No while lifting Kano up and slamming him down with his tongue.

Releasing Kano he turned towards No who was hesitant of his next action and raced towards him with his intent clear as day, No was able to avoid him much easier than Kano since his fighting style was more focused on speed rather than power. No knew that with Kano down he was practically the only able-bodied person between Satan and the injured ones, he would have to think fast lest he wished for Satan to kill him or target those behind him. He shook his head preparing for the worst as he reached within his cloak and pulled out a circular object with a string attached to it, he continued forward trying to divert Satans attention away from the group while calling out to the others, "Zest try to slow him down just a bit, to be able to pull this off I need to be faster than him!"

Zest nodded and despite the exhaustion making her vision slightly blurry, she pushed through it all created a massive amount of briars and sending them all towards Satan, many were destroyed as they got close but her final attempt was not in vain as a multitude of briars had wrapped themselves around Satan's entire body. No was never one to let a single opportunity escape him, the moment Satan was stopped for a second he acted. He raced towards Satan while using one of his blades he scraped the side of the object causing a spark to ignite the string, not wasting a single moment or movement he drops the small dagger in his hand and takes out a spiral blade aiming it straight at Satan's chest. Planting both feet firmly on the ground he thrust the blade forward while spinning carving a deep hole in his chest, once his momentum was stopped he ripped the blade out and shove the object into the hole. Satan in his state howled in pain and struck out hoping to kill No, he managed to pierce his clawed hand into No's thigh, with he gripped onto No determined to tear through him. No grimaced at this and brought out two small knives to defend himself in his last moments, as he stabbed them into Satan's free arm he yelled to the group, "GET DOWN NOW!"

The group dived to the ground with Seo using his body to shield the group, nothing happened for a few seconds except a few howls of pain and clashing of weapons before the object detonated. Whatever kind of bomb No had hidden in his cloak it was a damn powerful one as it tore apart the terrain surrounding them almost reaching them, the only thing that remained in the newly-created crater was the battered body of Satan who laid unmoving. Goda ran to the edge of the crater and peered in searching for No but to his dismay found no other signs of life within the crater, Goda fell to his knees saddened at the loss of one of his comrades. Seo hobbled up behind him with an apprehensive look on his face, "Is No dead?"

Goda nodded his head, "It would appear so."

They heard a large thump to the side and turning to it they the lumbering form of Ban slowly making his way towards them, "Don't go killing him off yet, the bastard got his ass saved by me."

They look at him confused before they noticed the slumped over head of No on Ban's back, Goda let out a cry of joy and Seo let out a small chuckle walking towards the pair. He pats Ban on the shoulder and chuckled at the look of pure exhaustion that was displayed on his face, "You did good man."

No simply groaned in response his body still beaten and battered from his battle and the explosion, he was the victor despite the fact he would be unable to move for weeks to come. As they trudged away a loud yell filled the area that caught their attention, they turned back and to their horror, Satan stood back up though he was unsteady this still showed that their job has yet to be finished. If they could finish the job at all was up for debate as almost everyone was exhausted or bruised and beaten, logically it would be unlikely that they would be able to do so, Satan completely covered in blood and with chunks of his body missing turned towards them with a look of pure rage adorning his bloody face, "I'm going to kill the lot of you!"

He stumbled forward towards them but he was stopped by a demon, "Lord Satan is your current state I would advise against engaging in any more of these frivolous activities, let me clean up the remaining vermin that plague our land."

Satan turned towards the demon one of his eyes completely covered by blood, "Demacule, do not stand in my way or I'll eradicate you too!"

Another demon appeared, "He is right my liege, give me, Akathorn, the honor of removing these vile creatures."

Goda and the Divine Six Wings were being to lose hope as not only is Satan still alive but two of his generals have now arrived spelling certain defeat for their group, but as the demons continued to argue a rift appeared behind them and from it emerged Hilde, "Hurry now, while their distracted we can get away."

Goda hesitated not sure of what to do, "But if we leave now we've lost one of our prime chances to destroy him!"

Seo put a hand on his shoulder, "If we do not leave we shall all die and all the effort we have put into this mission shall be in vain, as even if we were to stay it is unlikely we would be able to end his existence especially with how exhausted everyone here is."

Goda looked back at the arguing demons then back at their battered group, he bit his lip knowing that they were right but not liking the fact that he had to do it. Goda turned away and click his tongue in a disappointed manner, "Retreat is our best plan of action everyone head out!"

The group nodded and slowly made their way into the rift with Goda pulling up the rear he gave one last look to find that the trio of demons finally noticed them and quickly made their way towards them as they tried to exit. Though they were too slow as by the time they got close enough they had all gotten through the rift and Hilde had already closed it up, Satan growled in annoyance and turned towards the other two demons, "You fools! You let them escape! I should have the two of you flayed for this blunder!"

The two of them dropped to their knees bowing to him, Demacule lifted his head, "I beseech you my lord allow me to hunt down these creatures and restore glory to your name!"

Akathorn opened his mouth and is about to spout the same thing Demacule did but Satan raised a hand, "Enough, Akathron you are to hunt them down but do not engage them just monitor them and report back to me every third day, Demacule you are to remain here and restore order within the kingdom. I will be in my castle recovering from my assault, you are to report to me in twenty-four hours or if any problem that you can not resolve arises."

The two of them got up and bowed one last time, "Yes my liege!"

Then they took off in different directions to complete the task given to them, Satan gripped his side and growled at his wounds, "This isn't over Ashura, I will hunt you and your little misfit group of humans to the end of the world and I will not stop until I can parade your battered body for the world!"

With that, he started heading towards his castle so to recover from his battle and strategize for the battle to come with Ashura.

~With Ashura~

He stood in front of the rift that Hilde had opened waiting for the group to emerge from it and when they did he noticed their sorry state, _"So I can assume that you have failed in your endeavor?"_

Goda shot forward grabbing him by the hem of his shirt, "I thought you said he would be in too much pain to be able to fight against us!"

Volron pulled a blade out and leveled it at Goda, _"Remove your hands from him unless you want me to remove them from your body!"_

Goda eyed the blade cautiously before removing his hands, Ashura gave him an unimpressed look, _"The poison that I had administered into his bloodstream would slow him down enough for your little finisher to kill him, if it didn't kill him than the fault is yours. You can not blame me for your men's weakness the only ones to blame for this situation are your men."_

Goda glared at him but knew that he was correct as the only reason that they were even able to get this far was all because of Ashura and he was wrong if he were to blame him for their mistakes. Goda fell backward and gripped his head in anger, "We were so close."

Ashura crossed his arms and turned to the side looking at Zoro who was being treated, _"Though you have failed and I may or may not have made an enemy of Satan but my main goal has been achieved as I was able to retrieve Zoro from the depts from hell, for that I must thank you."_

Goda blankly nodded still completely overwhelmed by their failure, Seo sat down beside him, "It is fine old friend, yes we may have failed but we shall learn from everything that has happened, we shall continue our mission and become strong enough to once again challenge Satan and we shall not fail this time."

Goda turned to him, seeing the hopeful smile on Seo's face made him smile back with the same hope, "Yes we will."

**That's a wrap this chapter wraps up everything in hell, well almost everything, but from this point on we'll be out of hell. The first chapter or two will be a bit laid back as Zoro recuperates. After that, I want at least one or two more storylines before the Stawhats meet up again so I'm gonna have to think of what storylines I can play with but for now I'm coming up blank. But I know I'll come up with something in time though I am open to suggestions so feel free to pm me anything if you think it'll be good for the story. I like the fighting in the last chapter far more than the fighting in this chapter, I feel like the fighting in this chapter was just too dragged out as I tried to fill up the entire five thousand word count with just fighting instead of just a mix of everything. I'm not sure how to feel about it so I'll leave it to you guys to determine if the chapter is good or not, on another note once again I apologize for how long it took for the chapter to come out. I'm feeling particularly guilty especially since I've been putting a message like this almost every time I've updated since I've come back, I just feel really bad about it cause of how much work I used to put into this story but now I no longer have the time to work on this as much as I used to and I feel like I'm just disappointing you guys. Ehh I'm just ranting at this point you can just ignore most of this. But once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	48. Stubborn Warrior

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Waking up and being unable to move your arms is a terrifying experience, one that Zoro was currently experiencing as his body refused to comply with his demands. He swung his head around looking around trying to sort out where he was and if there was any imminent danger at the current moment. When he determined nothing around him was life-threatening he calmed down and started working at his own body, slowly he applied more and more effort hoping that his body would give him just a little bit of a reaction. As he did this a voice caught his attention, _"He should be recovering just fine though when he'll wake up is still uncertain."_

Noticing the approaching form of Volron with Nazuna he decided to surprise them, "Yea, who knows when he's going to wake up, we could be here for years."

The two of them paused for a second before Nazuna rushed at him clearly happy to see Zoro awake again as Volron scoffed, _"If you stayed asleep for any longer I would have pulled the plug on you."_

Zoro chuckled at this, "Don't lie to yourself, you missed me didn't you?"

Volron growled and turned away not uttering a word but Zoro did, "Though I have to ask, how did you get out?"

Volron looked at him not amused, _"Escape from hell or escape from my human prison that was you?"_

Zoro responded, "Both."

Volron sighed and sat down across from him, _"When you were dragged into hell, the barrier that was set up around it forced me out albeit painfully and getting out of hell, well it wasn't that difficult for some of us but the little group that was determined to defeat Satan had a bit more trouble getting out."_

Zoro narrowed his eyes, "Did they manage to kill Satan?"

Volron shook his head, _"That bastard was resilient took almost everything from them to just injure him, every one of them was injured or exhausted from the battle and only managed to escape due to that one girl that could create portals."_

He sighed, "Than I guess we're going to be seeing Satan again eventually."

Volron nodded with an annoyed look on his face, Zoro tried to get up to find his body still immobile, "Was I injured enough to be completely crippled?"

Volron shook his head, _"Of course not, we're just certain that despite your injuries you would try to train which in your current condition would be a terrible idea so we decided to disable your body."_

Zoro couldn't disagree with him, "I don't know how you guys did it but could you at least give me a bit of feeling back into my body, this feeling is just too uncomfortable."

The two of them shared a look before nodding at each other, Nazuna reached an arm behind his head and pressed onto the back of his neck applying a bit of pressure. Whatever she did worked as his body jolted indicating that he could once again move, he flexed his fingers before looking at them, "That's more like it."

He slowly got up gripping his side while doing so, Nazuna stuck a hand out stopping him from doing so, "You have multiple broken ribs, a comminuted fracture for your right femur, oblique fracture on your radius, along with multiple other shattered bones and ruptured organs. I would prefer if you were to not apply any unnecessary stress on your already broken body on the off chance you harm your body any more of your body."

Zoro opened his mouth to say something but the look on her face left no room for arguments so he sighed, "Fine, I won't do anything stupid."

With a smile, she nodded, "Good."

Zoro grumbled and slowly laid back down on the bed he was resting on, though he wouldn't admit it she was right. Even sitting up like that hurt a lot just imagine actually walking around and doing stuff, the pain would have been unimaginable. He disliked the fact that he was now confined to his bed but was slightly relieved as his body hurt far too much for him to function properly, though with his abnormal recovery speed he should probably be up and running in no time. Finding a way to pass the time would be the only problem he would have with this, with a sigh he slowly turned over so not to agitated his injuries while making himself comfortable, "This is going to be a long couple of weeks."

~Three Weeks~

He laid there with a look of pure boredom on his face, he knew that the time confined to the bed was going to be torturous but he didn't expect it to be this bad. He heard footsteps approach, he slowly turned over to be met with the sight of Goda and Seo. He gave them an odd-look before asking, "What are you guys here for?"

Goda bowed slightly to him, "I'd like to thank you once again for helping us as much as you could despite us failing our goal and tell you that the Divine Six Wings shall be moving on now as we can no longer stay here helping those that are injured. We must continue on with our goal as we gather more information on Satan and train our men to become even stronger."

Zoro nodded slowly and turned to Seo, "How bout you?"

"I'm here to ask of your sword style." Seo answered, he made his way next to him and pulled a chair over for him to sit on.

Zoro narrowed his eyes at him, "What exactly do you want to know, depending on what you say I may or may not give you an answer."

Seo raised his hands as a sign of surrender, "Nothing too deep, just a general inquiry of how you are able to fight with a blade within your mouth and the basics of how adding an extra blade would in any way bolster your strength."

Zoro shrugged, "Training will always allow you to do more than those that don't it's as simple as that, the third blade just adds more power and versatility into my attack patterns. That all?"

Seo nodded though he looked slightly displeased he stood up and bowed to him, "That shall be all, I thank you for your time."

Zoro mumbled quietly under his breath, "At least that managed to stave off my boredom for a few moments."

He lifted his shirt and started undoing a few of his bandages to get a look at some of the injuries that surrounded his body, though the lesser one like shallow cuts and bruises had all healed, the much larger injuries like the multitude of broken bones and extensive laceration still decorated his body quite vividly. He grumbled at this and rubbed his side before applying a bit of pressure to test out how painful it was, it was far from the pain he felt when he had first awakened but it was still unmistakably there. No matter how painful he was determined to get up, his boredom was excruciating and he would take physical pain over boredom any day of the week. With a grunt, he dragged his body out of the bed and slowly made his way to the door careful not to apply to much pressure onto his right leg which was still healing, hobbling over he reached the door and poked his head out to make sure no one was around before leaving the room for the first time in a while.

Finding an exit he reached outside finally able to enjoy some fresh air and sunlight, with a grin on his face he hobbled over to a tree and laid down against it enjoying the scenery around him he was probably going to get an ear full from Nazuna when they found him but it was a price he was willing to pay for a brief sense of freedom. He would be left alone for quite a while which was surprising to him but he wasn't one to complain, though he could tell that they were searching for him as the entire fortress that they had been camped at seemed to be on high alert. He chuckled at this and continued watching enjoying their panic, _"You having fun making them search restlessly for you?"_

"Far more than you would think I would." He didn't even look up knowing exactly that critical tone belonged to, he slowly got up and dusted himself off before hobbling back towards the base.

Volron looked at him annoyed, _"So now you're going to go back? What was the whole point of me coming out then."_

Zoro chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows, you chose to come out you discover exactly why you did it."

He grumbled at Zoro and took out a blade leveling it at him, _"If I wished to I could kill you right here right now."_

Zoro paused and turned towards him without any fear in his eyes and responded without hesitation, "Then do it, if you truly wished for my death you would have killed me far sooner than now and you aren't one for patience now are you."

Volron stared him down silently for a few moments before sighing and lowering the blade, _"You're lucky Ashura made it clear I wasn't allowed to kill you."_

Zoro waved him off with a smile on his face, "Didn't stop you from trying the first time shouldn't stop you now unless you have a different motive."

Volron glared at him before wordlessly disappearing into the treeline, vanishing from his sight, Zoro shook his head. He never liked Volron but he was useful in his own way though he knew if he continued to goad him on things would turn sour fast, but that was a problem for another day, for the time being, he would deal with his current predicament, Nazuna. He grumbled himself as he entered knowing exactly what was going to happen, he maneuvered his way around the base to avoid being detected heading directly to the room they had kept him in. He looked around carefully before entering, he peeked out one last time to make sure that no one caught him sneaking back in. Once he determined that no one did he lets out a sigh of relief before heading to the bed but pauses once he sees who's on it, Nazuna who gave him an unimpressed look, he shows a sheepish smile before talking, "Hey Nazuna, didn't see you there, what are you doing here?"

She narrows her eyes at him, "You know you're still injured right?"

Zoro nods and she continues, "Then you shouldn't be moving around much less stirring any trouble, especially on the day that the Divine Six Wings planned to leave, they spent hours searching for you while they were supposed to be gathering their stuff for their departure. You caused trouble for everyone else and I know that since you are my master I have no right to be talking to you like this but what you're doing is far too reckless!"

Zoro rubbed the back of his head and let out a tired sigh, "Yes, I know but I've stayed in that bed for far too long I need to be able to move if even just a bit, I just need to move around I can't just still while I still have things to do."

Nazuna stood up and walked over to him, "I understand you that you still have many things to do and I'll help you achieve them, but pushing yourself this hard while you aren't at full strength will do nothing but deter you from your final goal."

Zoro stared for a moment before walking past her and climbing back into the bed, Nazuna took a foot forward before stopping herself curling her hands into a fist before turning around leaving the door. Zoro sighed at this, he knew that she was right but he just didn't like being still for too long and felt that three weeks was already long enough, just a few moments of freedom didn't seem like too much to ask for. He would stew about it for a while, he would apologize to her the next time she comes around until then he would focus more on relaxing as she was right in a sense as his body was still far from recovering completely.

~Three Weeks Later~

The entire fortress seemed practically silent after the Divine Six Wings left which was kind of understandable seeing as Zoro's group was quite small, with Ashura, Volron and Decimation disappearing about a week ago he was left completely alone with Nazuna. He had apologized to her practically right after the little predicament arose seeing as she was the only here able to take care of him, but he was fine now, still not at a hundred percent but enough for him to be able to move around without any major problems. Which he was overjoyed at as he was finally able to train once again, the moment that Nazuna gave him the green light he grabbed his blades and made his way outside to practice his katas. With him slowly approaching a full recovery he would have to soon plan out his next step in his journey, though he has just been wandering around up until now he would soon have to plan things out so he would end up at Sabaody.

With each swing, he felt himself getting stronger and stronger as being stuck in bed so long caused his muscles to atrophy just a little bit which aggravated him to no end, thinking of his swordsmanship he recounted what had happened in The Arena. He had defeated many foes, was starved but still forced to fight, made a few friends who he had no idea where they were, before being beaten half to death by a giant dragon-like bastard. It was an experience at least not a very fun one but overcoming obstacles build character and he was using his rage at the situation to fuel him to train even harder so he would never lose as he did to Tyrranth. He blamed the fight on his lack of energy due to the minuscule amount of food that was given to him but he knew that it was just an excuse and he would never accept it, he was defeated due to his own weakness and that is something he has to overcome if he wishes to continue on with Luffy and the crew as they navigate through the Grand Line.

He spent hours swinging his blade to get his muscles back up to the condition they once were and Nazuna sat to the side watching, finally noticing her, "Hey, Nazuna."

She looks at him, "Yea?"

He continues swinging his blade without turning towards her, "What happened to you? You appear to have gained human emotions in the time that I was stuck in there."

She set her hand on fire and moved it around her face, "Yes, I am something that was created by you but since I have gained a conscience I too evolve and change to the environment around me, in this case, I gained human emotions due to me being constantly around humans."

Zoro narrowed his eyes finding it odd but not thinking much of it as it made quite a bit of sense, she extinguished the flame in her hand and turned back to him, "Is that all?"

Zoro shook his head, "No, do you know about a half-elf called Triselor? I told him that the invasion was going to happen and I'm curious if he was able to get out."

Nazuna smiled at him, "Yes, they were lucky to run into a very merciful Volron who got Decimation to lead them to the portal taking them out."

Zoro quirked an eyebrow, "They?"

She nodded, "It wasn't just the half-elf that we got out but also a succubus, I believe her name was Sarvia."

Zoro gains a look of surprise before shaking his head with a smile on his face, "Well, can't say I didn't expect her to choose that when the opportunity was presented to her but I am happy that she was able to get out too, she wasn't that bad compared to the rest of them."

Nazuna stands up and stretches, "Well then, how long do you think we will stay here?"

Zoro finally stopped swing his blades and looks towards her drenched in sweat, he pauses unsure before turning towards the trees surrounding the fortress and readying his blades, "Torai Saiko Kaitai Ryusei!"

Three bolts emerged as expected but Zoro wasn't done, shooting forward right behind them he struck out once again, "Hono no Tatsumaki!"

The flames tore through the trees and Zoro readied his another attack, "Ashura Hakai!"

The final strike caught the flames on the edge of his three blades and he spun them around to build momentum before unleashing his final strike, "Ashura no Kohai!"

With the flames added in with the attack, it was like a volcano had erupted from the spot that Zoro had struck as the flames burst forth unleashing a wave of scorching heat with Zoro at the center. Nazuna watched in fascination as Zoro had completely obliterated hundreds of trees with a few moves, she looked towards Zoro to see him grinning with an exhilarated look in his eyes, "I'd say about a week or two more than I'll be in tip-top shape, so get everything ready for then Nazuna."

She gave him a delighted look, "I can't wait."

With that, she turns around and heads back in leaving Zoro alone to survey the destruction that he had just caused with a sense of glee, he was slowly regaining his former strength and even more. Gripping his blades tightly he looked out to the sea, "This time I'm not going to fail be sure of it you damn bastards."

~A Week Later~

He was incorrect in his assumption that he would be able to fully recover in a week, Nazuna already packed everything so he was determined to leave in the time that he had set. She was slightly hesitant since she wished for Zoro to make a complete recovery before they go anywhere but he was already in a good enough condition to continue so she kept quiet about it, "So where to now master?"

He turned to her with a quirked eyebrow, "I thought I talked to you about the master thing."

Nazuna smiled at him, "Yes you did, but I choose what I want to do and I want to call you master."

Zoro grumbled at her, "Fine, too much trouble for me to try convince you otherwise."

She chuckles at him, "You're right about that. But now back onto the topic, where exactly are we going and how exactly are we going to get there if we don't have any form of transportation."

Zoro paused for a moment and turning to her, "We don't?"

She nodded, "Yes, you didn't have a vessel to get here seeing as Satan simply dragged your body all the way to Hell's Gate and when we got out that girl used her portals to transport everyone to this fortress in which even I am unsure of where we are. Along with that, it seems that the Divine Six Wings failed to leave behind a vessel for us when they left, though I doubt they needed a vessel at all seeing as they had someone that could easily bypass the entire need of a vessel for travel."

Zoro groaned at this, "Great, now we're stuck here."

Nazuna shook her head, "Not exactly, I considered this issue during the past week and I experimented with my flames and how they react to certain elements and was able to craft something that should be able to keep afloat long enough for us to get to the next island."

Zoro looked at her in surprise and was about to say something before an explosion rocked the island, they turned towards the direction of the blast quickly raced towards in to find out what had happened. When the reached the edge of the island they were met with a steel boat set on fire and a giant ship with the number 66 on the mainsail slowly making its way towards the island, Zoro had heard about the ship but he had never seen it himself and he didn't like it. Nazuna growled at this which surprised him since he had never seen Nazuna react to anything in such a negative manner, "What's got you so mad?"

She started to make her way forward igniting her fist, "I spent quite a while experimenting to make that ship and they just blew it up like it was some trash!"

He put a hand on her shoulder to hold her back, "Come on now, calm down let me deal with everything if we need to kill some people I'll let you go wild."

She huffs in annoyance but complies and stops letting Zoro step forward, he takes out a single one of his blades and aims it at the ship, "Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

The bolt shot forward and was about to impact the ship before it was intercepted by a pink smog which quickly dissolved the bolt of fire before it could impact the ship, but it served its purpose as he noticed a group of people leaving the ship and heading towards him. Once they got close enough he could only whistle in amusement as he finally saw the family resemblance as each of the people in the weird Power Ranger-Esque clothing had the spiral eyebrows like just Sanji. They landed in front of him most of them on edge as a random stranger had just sent a bolt of fire barreling at their ship, the largest one of them approached him, he was different compared to the others ones as he stood much taller and possessed a weapon, unlike the others. He lifted his spear up and pointed it at Zoro, "Who are you and why did you attack our ship!"

Zoro quirked an eyebrow and used the side of his blade to push the spear away, "Why did you attack our ship?"

He scoffed at Zoro, "You called that a ship? That was a pathetic mass of metal clumped together not even resembling a ship, you should be thankful that I removed it from existence!"

Zoro quirked an eyebrow and stuck his hand out intercepting Nazuna who he knew would immediately lung out after he said that, "That isn't the problem here, that was our way off the island and you destroyed it. Now you could give us a ride or spare us a boat but if you refuse to do either then we're going to have a problem."

He reached his arm to the hilt of his other blades unsure of how they would react to his statement, but before the giant blond man could say anything the green man behind him pushed forward, "We don't have to do anything for you, we're Germa 66 and we're here to beat down the idiot that tried to attack our ship!"

Zoro gave him a blank look and yawned, which served to only aggravate the man as he growled and shot forward trying to hit him. Zoro rolled his eyes and waited for him to get close enough before doing anything, "Ittoryu: Yakkodori!"

This caught the made by surprise as a crescent projectile sped towards him and he couldn't stop fast enough to completely avoid the strike, he was a lucky man though as one of the others this one with his primary color being blue swooped in and pushed him out of the way of the projectile. The blue man throws him to the side and scoffs at him, "Don't just rush him you idiot, you don't know how strong he is yet."

The green one pushed him off and growled at Zoro but took the advice as he didn't immediately rush at Zoro again, Zoro quirked an eyebrow while smirking at him causing the green one to grow even more frustrated. The giant one bellowed, "Enough, you four stay out of this I shall deal with this cur myself!"

Zoro grinned at this, "Well at least give me a name, I don't like mocking someone as I defeat them without knowing their name."

The man narrowed his eyes, "My name is Judge Vinsmoke and I regret to inform you that from this moment forth you shall no longer traverse this plane of existence!"

Zoro gave him a bored look and took out the rest of his blades, "Come on, stop yapping already and fight me already you giant hunk of shit!"

Judge scoffed at him before charging at him as boosters appeared at the bottom of his feet, this made much faster than Zoro had expected but he thought nothing of it as he blocked the straight forward piercing strike like it was nothing. Before sliding one blade against the shaft of the spear seeing if Judge was fast enough to avoid it, to no one's surprise he was as he quickly disengaged from him and reevaluated the current situation. Zoro chuckled darkly and didn't give him the time to do so, pointing his blades at Judge he struck, "Torai Saiko Kaitai Ryusei!"

Judge and the group looked in surprise as a multitude of flames emerged from his blades racing towards them, most of them avoided this except the red one who simply batted the fire away. He glared at Zoro, "It seems just our father isn't enough for this fool, don't regret what you've started commoner!"

Zoro rolled his eyes, "Nazuna have some fun."

She growled at the group, "I thought you'd never let me!"

She raced past him and slammed into the red one violently while reaching out and gripping the throat of the blue one, dragging them away from Zoro who was left with Judge, green, and pink. He cracked his neck, "This could have been avoided if you didn't try to attack us right off the bat, hell things would have gone better if you didn't destroy our boat to begin with. I don't care if you're Sanji's family or not I'm going to make this fucking hurt!"

Judge paused for a moment after hearing that name and was about to say something but Zoro wouldn't let him, knowing exactly what he would say, "Jinsoku!"

He disappeared from Judge's sight and made his way towards the green one knowing that he was the most reckless of the bunch and hoping to get rid of him quickly, green did surprise him though as he was able to sense the attack and block it. Green glared at him but chuckled, "You aren't going to leave this place alive!"

Zoro gave him a disgusted look, "Someone this weak shouldn't be talking this much shit."

Green looked humiliated and angry, he tried to push Zoro off but he wasn't strong enough causing Zoro to push down on him even more causing cracks to appear of his raid suit. Zoro removed one blade in time to block a strike from the side as Judge made his move, "You mentioned that weak little failure, you must know where he is don't you? If you tell us where he is we might just help you off this island."

Zoro quirked an eyebrow, "I don't know where he is at the moment but even if I did I wouldn't help you in any way."

Judge growled at him, "Reiju!"

A voice came from behind him, "Got it, Pink Hornet!"

Zoro grumbled and kicked his foot out to kick green away before slamming his other blade into Judge force him back, he then turned to the approaching stream of poison. He takes out his final blade and places it in his mouth, "Koujo: O Tatsumaki!"

The whirlwind blows away all traces of the poison and Zoro now armed with all three blades is ready to take them on, but Judge lowers his weapon and raises a hand, "that's enough, I don't think either side will make much way in defeating the other and we're more likely to kill each other at the end making the entire fight pointless. I propose a temporary truce, we get you off this island and you help us with a little something."

Zoro narrowed his eyes before sheathing his blade, "I'll take the truce favor I will have to look into, though I don't think we would have killed each other in the end, I would have undoubtedly killed all of you."

Green got up glaring at him, "What makes you think that? It's three to one we would have drained you of your energy eventually plus the other two and an entire ship of soldiers!"

Zoro chuckles, "Three on one? take a look at my partner and think about that again."

They did so and were met with the sight of a very angry Nazuna beating blue and red senselessly, Zoro gave a content sigh before calling Nazuna, "I think that's enough!"

She didn't stop and Zoro rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Nazuna stop!"

She stopped this time the look of angry still on her face, she saw that Zoro had put his weapons away and understood what was happening. She let go of them and crossed her arms as she walked towards Zoro clearly displeased, "I'm still angry you know."

Zoro nodded, "Yep, but they're our ride of this island so it would be bad if we killed two of them."

Nazuna grumbled under her breath as she walked behind him, "My ship would have been better than their dumbass ship."

Zoro ignored this statement and turned to Judge, "Well let's get on our way now."

**That's a wrap this chapter was pretty easy going for the most part and I didn't have much trouble finishing things up, there's probably going to be one more chill chapter before I dive into a more plot progressing one and I have a slight idea of what I want to do with it though I haven't ironed out all the details yet. I'm hoping to get things done in the next week but I probably won't make it in time but I'll try to get things to work out as unlikely that is to happen nowadays. Once Christmas break comes around I'll have more time to do things though I doubt I'll use most of that time on this it as I'll probably be playing video games, it still gives me more time to work with as I don't have to get to school every day. But until then, if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	49. Twisted Family

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

He had never met any of these people personally but from what he had heard of them he didn't really like them, being stuck on the same ship with them for the foreseeable future simply strengthened the image of them that he had already created, a twisted group that called themselves a family. He was finally given the names of everyone which he found quite hilarious as they were named according to the order of their birth with Reiju, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji. Whoever came up with the names did a terrible job and once he met up with the cook he was going to have a field day with this, but until then he would have to avoid any unnecessary confrontation with the bunch. He was given a small room to stay in until he got off and he was fine with it, what he was more worried about was the favor that Judge had set as a condition to let him aboard. Judge hasn't mentioned anything about it since which led Zoro to grow slightly more worried about it, he would do nothing about it for the time being trying to stay away from any trouble he could.

He had completely recovered from the battle with Tyrranth in The Arena and had started ramping his training up even more than before making it increasingly difficult to try to simulate the life or death situations that he has experienced throughout his life. Under the notion that a person changes with life-threatening events, he recounted everything in his life that could have lead to his death and trained with those situations playing on rewind in his head. He only stopped when he decided to finally acknowledge the Vinsmoke sibling that was watching him, "What do you want Vinsmoke?"

He wiped the sweat off his chin and glared at her with careful eyes as she giggled at him, "Nothing, just watching over our guest. Is there a problem with me doing this?"

He narrowed his eyes and returned to his training, "No, I simply don't enjoy having someone keeping an eye on me when I'm training."

She raised her hands up in a sign of surrender but the grin on her face said that she wasn't going to leave, "I heard that you've met my brother."

Zoro glanced at her suspiciously, "What of it?"

Her expression shifted to a slightly more serious one though the humorous look in her eyes didn't disappear, "Is my brother doing alright? I haven't seen him since he was a child when he had escaped from Germa."

Zoro rolled his eyes, "He's fine though his personality could use a bit of tweaking."

She quirked a brow at this, "How so?"

He sighed clearly annoyed, "You'll find out when you see him again."

She grumbled at this and stood up walking in front of him, he glared at her, "Don't interrupt my training."

She rolled her eyes at him and took out her raid suit, "This isn't interrupting more so joining in, how about sparring?"

He gave her an odd look before mumbling and unsheathing the rest of his blades, he gave an awkward cough when Reiju applied her Raid Suit which left little to the imagination during its transformation before shaking his head to concentrate on the battle. He studied her with anticipation knowing that her specialty was poison and unlike Luffy, he didn't possess any form of resistance to it which would prove to be troublesome if he was unable to avoid even a single one of her attacks. He wouldn't have to wait long as Reiju wasn't one to waste time, he readied himself expecting some kind of attack associated with poison but was surprised to find her simply using physical attacks instead of her poison ones. He blocked her strikes quite easily and due to this wasn't expecting her to use her poison at point-blank range, with a jolt he scrambled to avoid the encroaching cloud of poison, he was able to get out of the way with minimal damage to himself though his left shoulder tingled painfully.

With a grunt, he tightened his bandana around the shoulder and focused back onto Reiju who was grinning at him, "Annoying little pest."

She chuckled at this, "Why thank you."

He mumbled under his breath, "Wasn't a compliment."

This time he took the initiative with a spinning double-bladed strike from above, she avoided it quite easily but he followed up immediately after, "Saiko no Kaitai Ryusei!"

It barreled towards her and as she dodged it he appeared in front of her, slamming a knee into her stomach causing her to reel back in shock before doing a three-sixty and dragging his blade across her chest then delivering a solid kick to the face sending her falling backward. He made his way forward and leveled his blade at her chin and staring intensely at her as if daring her to attack him, she chose the smarter option as she raised her hands in defeat and Zoro removed his blade from her face and helped her up. She coughed a bit and touched her chest still feeling the tingling from Zoro's strike, "You could have at least taken it easier on me."

Zoro who has since moved on and continued training responded snarkily, "I did."

She huffed at him before leaving knowing that staying here would do little but waste her time, as she left Zoro sighed in relief finally being rid of the Vinsmoke. Shaking his head he returned to his training now taking it even further with imaginative combat with beasts that he had fought deep into the New World, though the sense of death wasn't prevalent with this type of training he was still putting all his effort into it forcing himself to try survive the encounter without even a single strike touching him, this would continue for hours with him losing himself completely to his blades. He wouldn't return to reality until Nazuna would approach him hours later, he gave her one look before sighing, "You look pissed what happened now?"

She huffed and kicked the ground like a little child being berated, "For some reason, all three of the Vinsmoke brothers have been trying to pick me up for the past couple hours and I've been trying to avoid them since they can't take no for an answer."

Zoro chuckled at her misfortune, "Seems like perversion runs through the family."

At this Nazuna quirked an eyebrow, "You never did tell me much about your crewmates, I still have limited knowledge of the people that you traveled with."

Zoro paused mid-swing and turned to her slightly surprised, "I never did? Huh, guess it just slipped my mind and you never really asked before so I didn't think much of it."

She moved forward with a curious glint in her eye, "So what were they like?"

Zoro rubbed the back of his head already feeling a bit of a headache forming just from remembering his time with the boisterous crew, "Well, Luffy was an idiot who loved his friends, Nami was a conniving woman that always though of money though she can use that expertise for good once in a while. Ussop is a coward that claims the achievements of others but has rare flashes of his own strength, Sanji is just like his brothers a complete pervert and he refuses to ever harm a woman which is quite troublesome sometimes but he is reliable for the most part. You've already met Robin, a quiet beauty that can be quite dark for no bizarre reason, there's Chopper the reindeer doctor with the human-human fruit, even at such a young age he's already a master of his craft. Franky is an odd creature, a cyborg that has quite a few perverted tendencies especially his adamant dislike of wearing pants, though his skills as a shipwright are something that we severely lacked and he could hold his own in a fight. Then we have Brook who is an even more peculiar creature as his devil fruit led to him becoming nothing but bones while still alive, he matches Sanji in his perverseness but his joyful demeanor helps keep the crew's spirits up. With Jinbe who joined us much later in the journey, he was a welcomed addition to the crew and filmed the helmsman role perfectly, he is the second voice of reason that could penetrate through Luffy's thick skull which was something we deeply needed. Right after Jinbe, our crew acquired Leon someone of which I still have mixed feeling about."

It seemed he had talked for too long as Nazuna grew impatient, "The crew as an entirety seems like an odd mix of people that have nothing in common, also I knew of everyone up until Brook, but you also managed to get Jinbe to join the crew and who's Leon?!"

Zoro paused for a second remembering that he knew a bit more than others and would have to reel back on his sharing of events to come, "I don't know how Luffy got Jinbe to join the crew as I wasn't there when it happened and didn't care much for what transpired for it to happen and the story of Leon is for another time."

She laughed with mirth and draped herself over Zoro, "It sounds like you really know everyone, must be a fun group if even you remember every detail about them."

Zoro grumbled with the added weight to his shoulders, "Fun wouldn't be the best way to describe as I would more so use the term annoying for them, but we were like a family if anything went wrong we would always be there to help each other out one way or another."

She giggled at this and nudged him a bit, "Come on, I saw the look on your face you loved spending time with them."

He grumbled in response and turned away to hid the smidge of embarrassment on his face before coughing to try to cover it up, "Now that I think about it where did Draco go?"

Nazuna paused for a moment and her face told him that she was trying hard to remember, he rolled his eyes at this and waited for her to stop. It took a couple of seconds but she finally did with a look of excitement at the fact that she remembered, "Since it was too dangerous to bring him along I left him behind with Robin."

Zoro let out a tiny sigh of relief as with him recovering he never even considered the little dragon, but knowing that is was with someone that he could trust would be less for him to worry about. He turns towards the entrance and heads out with a confused Nazuna following behind him, "Where are you going?"

He ignored Nazuna causing her to huff in annoyance, "Alright, then don't give me an answer."

Zoro walked through the door to find the Vinsmoke brothers approaching and they approached him with glares, "Ohh it's you the swordsman."

Zoro gave them jaded looks clearly not interested in what they are about to say, "We were chasing after that cute girl that was with you, any idea where she is?"

Their glares darkened when Zoro simply walked around them without saying a single word, Ichiji got in front to block his way, "Hey, answer when we talk to you!"

Zoro stopped in his tracks and looked at Ichiji's hand that was blocking his way before looking at Ichiji himself, "Get out of my way Vinsmoke and so help me if you don't I'll show you a whole world of pain you've never experienced before."

Ichiji looked at him oddly then turned to his siblings before erupting in laughter, "Come on man, you really think you can take us especially three to one don't kid yourself."

Unbeknownst to both parties, Nazuna was hidden in a shadow above watching the altercation with an amused smile on her face, she was taking much joy in the annoyed expression on Zoro's face as one of his eyes twitched indicating that his patience was coming to an end. Zoro grabbed the arm and pushed it away from him, "Get in my way again and you'll lose that arm."

Yonji didn't take kindly to that statement, "Is that a threat? Cause if it is then we'll have to take you up on it, cause no one ever threatens us."

Zoro gives him an odd look, "Fuck's wrong with you, are you retarded or something?"

There was a moment of silence before everything went exactly as everyone expected, Yonji struck him and Zoro responded accordingly, by grabbing his face and burying it into the ground. Ichiji and Niji rushed forward to try take out Zoro quickly. Taking a single blade out he kept up with the two as they rigorously attacked him, Zoro was already tired from his training and dealing with the Vinsmokes was not something he was in the mood to drag out so he decided to end things quickly. Blocking a strike and jumping back he lowered himself and shot forward this time taking the initiative, "Ashura Hakai!"

Using the blunt side of his blades he slammed into the two of them sending them barreling backward, Zoro followed up by slamming his foot into Niji's face and bringing his blade down on Ichiji's left shoulder leaving a deep cut. He ripped it out and swung in a full arc to block off the attack from Yonji who just recovered, the slash forced Yonji back and Zoro took advantage of this, rushing forward he leveled his blade to Yonji's chest doing a piercing charge. A loud voice caused to stop though, "You follow through with that move and I'll have everyone on the ship hunt you down Roronoa!"

Zoro turned towards the voice and scoffed sheathing his blade as Judge approached with his spear at the ready followed by a large amount of Germa soldiers, Zoro walked past him without giving Judge a few words, "You're sons attacked me first and they suffered the consequences for it, make sure this never happens again unless you want a dead man on your ship."

Judge glared at him but didn't say a word before turning to his sons, "It as dumb of you bunch to try challenge him, especially without your Raid Suits on. I told you all to leave him alone while I try to distinguish any noticeable weaknesses. Why did you go against what I've instructed of you?"

Ichiji groaned and picked himself off the ground, "He insulted us, our pride dictates us to make him suffer for it!"

Judge glared at his sons, before walking up and back-handing Ichiji, "We've already fought them once and you know just how powerful he is, think before you do something this stupid again child!"

Ichiji gave a small nod his anger still prevalent but he bit his tongue knowing that speaking up against his father would lead to nothing but suffering for him, Judge scoffed at them before turning around and walking off clearly frustrated at how difficult it was to contain Zoro. Ichiji, on the other hand, stood still indignant with the current situation turned towards his brother's, "Well, what now idiots?! We screwed it up and now Judge is going to be on our ass even more than usual."

Niji who was covering his gaping wound on his shoulder approached slowly, "Then I believe it would be best for us to distance ourselves from him for now, until we are able to come up with something to deal with him."

Ichiji growled at this and pushed past Niji and stormed off leaving Niji behind with an annoyed look on his face, "Yonji, keep a careful eye on him but don't engage, try to find something we can take advantage of."

Yonji hovered behind him, "Me? Is that really a good idea? I'm not exactly the sneakiest."

Njij mumbled, "Well, we're kind of busy and short-handed right now, Ichiji is storming around throwing a tantrum like a little child and I need to go get fixed up for my shoulders so you're the only one left for now."

Yonji sighed and shuffled off, "This is going to be fun."

~With Zoro~

The problem had solved itself to his delight as he wasn't required to clean up the corpses of three dead men, though he disliked Judge the most out of the entire group he was smart enough to not start up any problems with him. As he walked back to the room that was given to him he yawned somewhat bored of his situation hoping that Judge would hurry up and tell him what the favor he would have to do was so he could get off the ship as quick as he could. He knew that staying on this ship longer than he should be an extremely bad idea as most of the people on the ship itself wanted him dead, he grumbled and was distracted with a weird rumbling sound coming from the walls of the hallway.

He paused for a moment trying to identify exactly where the sound was coming from but was a bit slow as something burst through the wall, he was slammed in the face by some type of black creature that seemed quite familiar. Whatever it was yipped in what he assumed was excitement but he wasn't sure as he tried to wretch the creature off his face, it took a moment but Zoro was finally able to pull it off to be met with the familiar face of Draco. Zoro quirked an eyebrow at him and Draco responded by licking the bridge of his tongue and panting heavily with his tongue sticking out imitating a dog, Zoro gave it a blank look before sighing and placing him onto the ground to have him excitedly yipping and bound around his legs. Zoro ignored this and continued on his way until Draco bit into his pant leg, Zoro gave him a slightly annoyed look, "Stop that, how did you even get all the way here anyway?"

Draco stopped, sitting down and gave him a confused look, Zoro sighed, "Why did I expect you to understand me."

He continued on his way only to have Draco bit his pant leg again this time pulling him towards the hole he had created in the wall of the hallway, Zoro grumbled, "I thought I told you to stop."

Dracon let go of his pant leg and jogged towards the hole that he had created in the wall and pointing at it with his nose, Zoro gave him an odd look before slowly following after him peering into the hole. To his surprise, it appeared to have something quite large and odd looking at the end of the hole, his curiosity getting the best of him Zoro followed Draco into the hole after a few moments of walking he would finally come across what he saw. A large room filled with mountains upon mountains of test tubes filled with people that looked exactly like the soldiers that followed Judge around, he narrowed his eyes confused at the sight before him, "Clones? Thought they were joking when they told me about this, but then again anything can happen on the Grand Line."

When he heard a few voices getting louder he grabbed Draco and hid back into the hole, as he listened in he saw Judge and someone who looked like a scientist of sorts walking towards the mountain of clones, "What information have you accumulated from him?"

The scientist was an old man and seemed barely able to even stand on his own power as he was shaking constantly responded quickly, "Not much except for his ability over fire and immense strength, no weaknesses or anything we can exploit. Though if you manage to get some of his DNA I could attempt to create a clone of him for either research or to create an army of men as strong as he is."

Judge growled, "I need more, to do that we need to understand everything about him, all his strengths and weaknesses, how he managed to obtain such power. Not only that he also knows the location of Sanji, but we're also going to need him alive to extract that information from him, we need Sanji for that deal we have with Big Mom. I couldn't even believe that such a weak and disposable pawn like Sanji could have some use in his life, I must say such a stroke of luck doesn't really come around often."

The scientist nodded his head vigorously, "Yes, I must agree, Sanji was a disappointment and disgrace to the Germa name and now that he can help us advance our knowledge and power he has finally achieved something worthy of the Germa name. But that is the only problem that has been solved sir, this anomaly of a swordsman on our ship has not let up anything and we are hard-pressed to confront him on it, it is unlikely that he would support our goal in any way or form."

Judge scoffed and shoved past the scientist, "Then come up with something, I must know what is it that makes him so strong."

Zoro watched the two of them argue but zoned out the rest of their conversation as his annoyance had reached an all-time high, as much as he disliked the perverted cook he was still a friend and watching them talking of him like a failure of a human being just rubbed him the wrong way. Add on the fact that Judge was keeping him here in hopes of replicating his strength for his own maniacal means pushed things even further and Zoro could barely contain himself from rushing out from his hiding spot to cut down both of those men. But he knew better than to do such a thing as it would ultimately cause him more trouble than he would want to deal with, with a quite growl he grabbed Draco and crawled back through the hole and headed towards his room.

Draco quickly took his place wrapped around Zoro's neck, Zoro had pondered on what to do with his current situation but was met with no ideas of how to properly handle things as they were. He shooked his head annoyed with his predicament before summoning Nazuna, who looked as or even more so annoyed than him, "What do you want?"

He gave her a deadpan look before taking, "Draco found us."

she paused for a moment before moving forward and rubbing the head of the small dragon on Zoro, he gave her a moment before continuing, "But that isn't the main point, thanks to Draco I've come across a particular bit of information about Germa."

She stopped what she was doing and nodded at him seriously, "Their objective with keeping me here is to try to discover the secrets to my strength and take advantage of it, to be more specific to either use those strengths for themselves or to create clones that are similar in power for their army. The second point I make here is that most if not all the soldiers that are on this ship are clones, along with that they wished to use Sanji as a pawn to try further their power by connecting with the Big Mom Crew so they could use all the soldiers in her crew as test subjects to create even stronger troops for themselves."

Nazuna narrowed her eyes, "How exactly are you going to deal with this issue though?"

Zoro shook his head, "Nothing yet, I'm unsure of how to properly deal with this situation without resulting in even worse repercussions, so, for now, all I want you to do is stay hidden and observe anything problematic to us in this ship. I'll think of something to handle the situation eventually but more information is what we need now and that's what you're going to achieve."

Nazuna nodded and gave him a half bow, "Then I shall take my leave now. This ship is quite large so I shall begin in my endeavor as early as I can so you can determine what the right course of action for this predicament is."

Zoro laid back onto his bed with a sigh, "Yea, you go do that, for now, I'll simply fake ignorance to their plans while you gather the required information."

Nazuna melded into the shadows as Zoro took Draco off his neck and rubbed his face, "Things are going to get problematic real fast."

Draco yipped at him before laying down next to his head, they sat there for a few moments before Draco suddenly shot up and turned towards the door a slightly angry yet confused look on his face. Zoro slowly sat up and followed his gaze to be met with the sight of a conflicted Reiju standing in the doorway, he slowly reached towards his blades, "What do you want? If you're here for revenge because of what I did to your brothers than the same thing is going to happen to you."

She shook her head, "I only came to warn you."

Zoro narrowed his eyes, "Warn me of what?"

She paused for a second hesitating before steeling herself, "You should get off this ship as fast as you can."

Zoro quirked an eyebrow at this, "Is that a threat?"

She shook her head, "No, it isn't, I'm simply saying that the reason you were allowed on this ship is far more sinister than you realize it is."

Zoro paused for a moment before chuckling at her statement, "Do you really think I got on this ship thinking that you guys did it out of the kindness of your heart? I already knew from the moment he put down his weapons that he had an ulterior motive to letting me aboard, d not take me for a fool Reiju I know not to trust people from the start."

Reiju didn't move before letting out a small sigh, "Don't blame me for what's going to happen I tried warning you."

Zoro mumbled under his breath, "You didn't tell me anything about what is to happen you simply told me to leave not much of a warning, but nevertheless I already know what to expect."

He leaned back and stared at the ceiling of his room aimlessly, "You guys are the ones that need to be careful, I don't take kindly to being used or threatened and if I put my mind to it I could destroy everything your family has built up in the blink of an eye."

Sitting silently for a few moments afterward he contemplated the smartest course of action until he saw it time to do something about the Vinsmokes, though his thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang right outside his door. He stood up and made his way to the door expecting Reiju again though he was met by another one of the Vinsmoke siblings. To be more exact Ichiji, who looked ready to murder him, Zoro immediately unsheathed his blade and rested it right against his neck telling him not to do anything stupid that could get him killed.

Ichiji completely ignored this shooting forward reaching to try to choke Zoro, but he was much faster and his reflexes instinctively made him slice what was in front of him which in this case was Ichiji's outstretched hand. Zoro could hear as his blade sliced straight through is arm inciting a shocking scream of pain from the man as his limb flew off from his body, the scream was loud as it garnered the attention of the clones that were near the area. They were all met with the sight of Zoro standing over the slumped over, shaking body of Ichiji who was in a pool of blood griping the stump that was what remained of his hand.

**That's a wrap, I don't really have much to say about the progress of this chapter, I kind of just forgot about doing this for the past week and a half so I never got around to finishing it and I'm sorry about that. I wasn't really sure of how to end the chapter so I kind of threw in the little Ichiji scene so I can have Zoro running around and hiding around Germa much like that one filler arc we had after Skypiea where all the Strawhats were scattered around the Marine base. It was a flash idea I came up with at the end cause I was still short a few hundred words so yea gonna have fun writing that for the next week or two. I don't plan on dragging out Zoro's stay with the Vinsmokes for much longer since I don't want to kill any of them off nor do I know of any other way to progress a storyline with them for any longer than I've already done so Zoro will probably be off the ship by next chapter or even the one after if I play my cards right. Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	50. Returning Journey

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

Now thing took an unexpected turn and he reacted in a much too violent way which leads to his current situation, a crap ton of Germa clones hunting him down for attacking Ichiji. He had hidden away in a part of the lab hoping nobody would be able to sniff him out while he waited for them to get close enough to an island to hop off. He hid above one of the giant test tube-like things containing a Germa soldier, he relaxed knowing that fighting the entirety of Germa at once was possible but not a wise idea.

Though this was the smarter route he was growing tired of camping out as the sirens blared and people continued to yell while running around searching for him. He was bored out of his mind as he wanted to do something but Nazuna already scolded him when he attacked a group of eight Germa soldiers earlier as it would lead them to search around the lab more thoroughly which proved more difficult for Zoro as he grew more and more restless with each person that ran by his hiding spot.

Finally having enough he slowly emerged from his hiding spot and looked around cautiously before taking off with Draco curled around his neck, he expertly maneuvered his way around the lab so to find an exit for himself. Though swimming through miles of the sea was unfavorable it was better than staying stuck on a ship filled with people that wanted his head on a silver platter, as he continued forward Draco unfurled himself and shot forward and made his way down a corridor. Zoro followed behind annoyed ready to berate the little creature, as he followed behind Draco surprised him by leading him towards an open exit. Zoro chuckled and rubbed its head, "Didn't think that was what you were doing."

He lifted Draco up and rested him on the back of his neck, "Well, let's get out of here, I'll call for Nazuna later we head out now."

As he stepped through the sudden emergence of a voice put him on edge, "Knew you would eventually try to escape instead of hiding out on the ship, though I expected you to come out a lot sooner than this but never the less it'll work."

Zoro unsheathed his blades and pointed the towards Reiju who was attached to the wall like some kind of spider, he glared at her, "Don't try to stop me, you know I'm more powerful than you are."

She raised her hands to symbolize that she wasn't here for a fight, Zoro narrowed his eyes, "What are you here for then?"

She sighed, "To get a story straight."

He quirked an eyebrow at this, "What do you mean?"

She dropped down from where she was, "You cutting my brother down is believable but you deliberately gunning for him seems a bit odd, he picked a fight with you didn't he?"

Zoro grumbled and looked around trying to find an island of sorts as a backup plan, he was kind of regretting not taking Warpclaw with him, "Yea, you're right is that all? Cause I have to get off this ship soon if you didn't notice everyone's kind of hunting me down."

She shook her head, "There is one last thing."

Zoro looked around cautiously while fidgeting slightly, "What is it?"

She distanced herself from him before dropping into a stance he didn't recognize, "Fight me."

Zoro blinked before giving her a disbelieving look, "Huh?!"

He gripped the bridge of his nose and groaned, "Didn't I just fucking say I don't have time for this."

She grinned at him, "Who said I had to listen to you, it is my family that's hunting you down. I never said I was on your side."

He glared at her and took Draco off his neck, "Look for Nazuna we're getting out of here now."

Draco yip in response and sped away looking for Nazuna while Zoro turned his attention back to Reiju, "Let's get this over with, I've had enough of you and your families lack of hospitality."

Reiju smiled, "How mean, and when we treated you so nicely."

Zoro rolled his eyes and shot forward intent on ending this as quickly as possible, "Kiki Kyutoryu: Ashura!"

Now out of everything this was one of the last things she expected Zoro to do, she had heard people calling him a demon before but as he is now he's literally a demon, **"Don't regret what you asked for."**

Though he might have regretted this later on Zoro decided not to kill her and flip the blades that he used against her to the back, causing more so bad bruises and possibly a concussion rather than cuts and a decapitated head. She collapsed roughly and Zoro let out a breath and dissipated his form before turning back towards the hole that he had entered through and waited for Draco to return, he wouldn't have to wait long as Draco quickly emerged with a tired-looking Nazuna in tow. The moment that she saw him her expression changed to one of anger, "What the hell were you thinking?! All you've done is cause more trouble than necessary!"

Zoro gave jaded look, "Well that won't be a problem anymore, we're getting off this ship now."

She growled at him, "How the hell are we going to do that? If you didn't notice there's no land in sight you buffoon."

Zoro ignored her and lifted Draco up placing him around his neck, "I would recommend holding on tightly."

She gave him a confused look but Zoro didn't give her time to react before grabbing her by the waist and jumping off the ship, as Nazuna screamed in surprise Zoro started gathered the demonic energy residing within him forming an orb once again but this time instead of controlling it he instantly released it sending it hurtling into the Germa base. The moment he let go of it he wraps his other arm around Nazuna and turned his back to the ship as the explosion occurred sending them flying, now Zoro had done many stupid things during his life. Enough to give a normal person a heart-attack just thinking about them, but this, this takes the cake as he released something similar to a miniature supernova implode behind him trying to propel himself away from the Germa ship. Now he never thought about the repercussions of such an act until the explosion reached him, feeling the searing heat and the shockwave collided with his body.

The pure power from the explosion hitting his body caused him to yell in pain as it far surpassed what he had expected from it, griping onto Nazuna with Draco tightening himself around Zoro's neck he could feel himself begin to fall unconscious as his vision began to get blurry. As he fell unconscious Zoro could only hope that Draco and Nazuna didn't go through the same pain and that they would be able to land a reasonable distance from a safe island, but knowing his luck he knew it would never happen. Thinking of this, two words sounded off in his head, "Well, shit."

~An Unknown Amount of Time Later~

Zoro awakened with his entire body feeling hot yet cold, he tried getting up but this just made the feeling grow stronger now joined by pain spreading throughout his body. He let out a suppressed grunt while trying to sit up. Though it took a while and quite a bit for groaning he finally managed to sit up, finally taking a look around he found himself in an unfamiliar location. He ignored that for now in exchange for searching for the whereabouts of his weapons, this was interrupted as the door to the room opened and the light blinded him. A voice he recognized emerged through the light, "Zoro!"

The person slammed into him inciting a couple of louder groans of pain, Zoro forced his eyes open to try to see who it was to be met with the sight of an embarrassed Nazuna. She let go and sheepishly chuckled at him as Zoro rubbed the back of his head, "Where the hell are we?"

Another person entered the room this time a bulky old man with a cane, "You sonny boy are in the Thiyerus Kingdom, situated on the island of Harby Cay."

Zoro narrows his eyes at this new unknown person, "That's a weird fucking name for an island and a kingdom."

The man chortled at him, "Not to us it isn't, we take pride in our kingdom and bear its name without an ounce of shame."

Zoro just gave him an odd look before trying to get out of the bed, the old man tsked and used his cane to roughly push him back onto the bed inciting a string of curses from Zoro, "Boy I don't know what you've been through but moving in that condition is something I wouldn't recommend."

Zoro angrily brushed the cane of, "Yea, I get it no need to be so violent bout it."

The man chuckled and slowly moved himself over to a chair, shakily sitting down his expression changed drastically. He removed his hat and gave Zoro a dark look, "Now that you're awake I got some question for you boy."

Zoro noticed the look and narrowed his eyes accessing his situation, his body was in some of the worst shape he's ever been with moving any part of his body causing an intense amount of pain. Then that leads to the question of where his blades were even if his body was in pain he would still be able to fight to a certain extent, though having Nazuna here was a relief of sorts he was still unsure of what would happen as he didn't know who else there was on this island, "Let me ask you a question first."

The man reclined in his seat his harsh gaze never once wavering, "Well go ahead boy I got time to spare."

Zoro sat up, "How long have I exactly been out."

The man shrugged, "I found the two of you along with that dragon of yours roughly six months ago, but who knows how long you had been floating around in the sea."

Zoro gave him a surprised look, six months that was a fourth of the time that he was supposed to return back to Sabaody, he had lost track of time quite frequently but it would seem that he should start making his way back. Though it would still be a while before he would be able to move at a decent pace without pain flaring up with every action, and the fact that he was still far from strong enough to fight off every threat to the crew. Coming back to reality he turned towards the old man, "Do you know of a place called Sabaody Archipelago?"

The old man brushed his beard with a thoughtful expression on his face, "Yes if I'm correct it should only be about three days journey South East of this island."

Zoro nodded, "Well, on the topic of your question go ahead."

The old man showed a small smile, "Took you long enough."

He reached back and grabbed onto something revealing it to be Zoro's blades and raised up two fingers, "I have two questions for you, first what exactly does is this blade? It gives off quite an ominous feeling that I can't quite put my hand on and with it being here it makes it quite difficult for me to feel comfortable with it hovering around here."

Zoro glanced towards Sandai Kitetsu, "The only one of the blades that should be able to give off such an uncomfortable should be the black and red blade, it gives off this feeling since it's a cursed blade."

The man glanced towards the blade cautiously before placing it down with care, he turns back to Zoro, "I'm not going to be haunted by a ghost cause of it am I?"

Zoro shook his head, "It's a curse of the weapon itself and those who wield it, you should be fine if you don't try using it."

The old man nodded still not completely sure as the frequent glances back to the blade showed, "Then how about what exactly happened to place the group of you afloat in the middle of the ocean."

Zoro sighed, "In simple terms, we escaped from a ship filled with people that were hunting us down, the ship exploded on our way out which lead to the sorry state that I'm in now."

The man sat there for a few seconds thinking whether or not to believe what Zoro just told him before ultimately sighing, "I don't know if I should believe you or not but there isn't any definitive way to prove what you said was true, but I'm not going to question it. You can stay here until you recover from your injuries though I think those will take quite a bit of time to achieve."

Zoro nodded as the old man started to make his way towards the door, "Thank you for your hospitality and I never did ask for your name."

The man chuckled the dark expression on his face nowhere to be seen anymore, "Just call me Old Man John."

Zoro shook his head with a small smile on his face and watched as John left the room, he turned to Nazuna who was completely quiet throughout that entire interaction, "How long do you think it would take for my body to heal to a degree in which I'm able to move around comfortably?"

She pauses for a moment with a thoughtful expression on her face before answering, "I'd say without any type fo healing it would take about two months for you to naturally recover to comfortable traveling health. But I do possess a few abilities that could speed up the process to give or take four weeks, to have to completely recover from your injuries it would take a minimum of four months without my help, three months at best with my help."

Zoro sighed knowing just how badly he had fucked himself up this time that it would take an entire four months for him to recover completely, he sighed at this and took off his shirt turning his back to Nazuna, "Well, let's get this over as soon as we can and start making our way to Sabaody."

She nodded and her right hand ignited with a light purple flame which she hovered just inches from Zoro's back where the worst of his injuries from the blast resided, the flames slowly moved closer and closer towards Zoro before it finally touched him causing Zoro to let out a quiet hiss. Before long the flames spread throughout his entire back creating a small protective layer that periodically shifted, Nazuna clapped her hands and stretched, "That should hold out for the day, it should relieve a bit of the pain as it numbs your back, though this helps this isn't incentive to do anything stupid so try to relax a bit and restrain from training until I've determined that training won't have any negative effects on your current recovery process."

Zoro slowly put his shirt back on with a displeased look on his face, "Sure."

He got up this time with slightly less difficulty as the pain was not as intense as it was when he had first awakened and he exited the room with Nazuna close behind keeping a careful eye on Zoro just in case anything went awry. Finally stepping out of the house Zoro got a good look at the island that he and Nazuna had washed upon, it was a very medieval island with a massive castle in the center and knights patrolling around in bulky silver armor. They gave Zoro odd looks as he passed by them but ultimately did nothing as he and Nazuna didn't pose any immediate threat to anyone, thought their clothing and appearance did make them stand out quite a bit. John would appear behind them quite suddenly surprising the duo quite a bit, "You're already up? I thought I told you not to get out of the bed especially with the type of injuries that you have on your body."

Zoro shrugged him off, "I've taken worse and lived to tell the tale, this is only a slight inconvenience for me."

John gave him a blank look before sighing, "Well if that isn't going to stop you then come along and help me with my farm, it should be a good start to recovering your atrophied muscles and isn't strenuous enough to cause anymore complication with your health."

Zoro knew that training was something that he should avoid but if he stayed in this condition things would most likely only get worse for him when he reunited with the rest of the crew, a slow start like using farming tools would slowly but surely help him regain a bit of the strength that he had lost in the months that he was unconscious. He turned to Nazuna with a questioning look on his face to see if doing something like this was too much for his body as it currently was, she narrowed her eyes using the flames on Zoro's body to regulate and keep track of his condition before nodding to him. Zoro turned back to John, "Sure, I should bee able to help out a bit without straining myself too much."

John nodded, "Well follow me then and watch your step the roads are a bit uneven the closer we are to my farm."

~Two Weeks Later~

If anyone ever told you farming was easy Zoro would personally show a foot up there ass, especially since he had collectively shared the load but Nazuna and an old man that Zoro should have been far more productive than. It got easier once his body once again got used to the strain of training but even then spending hours upon hours of the day in the blazing heat tilling land was exhausting even to him, someone who many consider being a monster of stamina. John got quite a kick out of watching Zoro struggle for the first couple days and Zoro hated him for that which only served to force Zoro to train even harder despite the protest from his body. Even due to a miscalculation of the injuries or Nazuna's own abilities, Zoro had recovered quite nicely almost feeling no pain at all from the injuries despite it only being half of the time that Nazuna had estimated for him to recover enough to safely travel.

Though he was thankful that he had recovered he would grow restless as he searched throughout the island for a suitable ship that would be able to transport him and Nazuna to Sabaody, though the journey wasn't too long it was still difficult for him to come across a ship that was able to traverse the distance and someone who was willing to sell it. Though this problem would be solved in a much different way than he had expected with the sudden arrival of a Celestial Dragon, he came in a medium-sized boat filled with an entourage of armed guards.

The Celestial Dragon came strolling into the kingdom without a care in the world taking whatever wished whether it was physical objects or women he found attractive, Zoro snarls at their behavior but did nothing of it for now concentrating on something else. He sent Nazuna to inspect the ship and remove anything unnecessary for their journey as he was determined to use the ship to return back to Sabaody, and if they put up any resistance he would simply cut them down which was something he was hoping to happen as he's been itching to test out his blades against human flesh ever since he had awoken.

He waited for a few days gathering whatever supplies he would need for the trip, as he was running over everything he had John walked in with a smile on his face, "You leaving so soon boy?"

Zoro nodded without turning around he closed up the bag and slung it over hid shoulder and rested his hand on the handle of his blades before turning towards John giving him a slight bow, "Thank you for your hospitality, I shall remember what you've done for me for the rest of my days."

John chuckled at this and ruffled Zoro's hair inciting a grumble from him, "Don't worry about it sonny, just make sure that I won't regret saving you that day now go out there and cause some hell."

Zoro smiled at this and left the house knowing exactly what to do, donning a grey hooded robe he quickly made his way to the market place where the commotion sounded the largest and came across exactly what he was hoping for. He picked up his pace hoping to not to gather any attention before he struck, which was exactly what he achieved as everyone was too focused on the man who was trying to keep the guard from taking his wife away. Zoro unsheathed his blade in one smooth motion decapitating two of the rear guards before cutting one of the other guard's sword-arm off, taking advantage of their surprise Zoro continued forward on his rampage slashing through everyone in the entourage making his way to the now quivering Celestial Dragon, "S-S-STOP! D-DO YOU KNOW WHO I A-AM?! I AM-!"

Zoro rolled his eyes and plunged forward stabbing his blade into the shoulder of the Celestial Dragon, "Shut your damn mouth for once, I don't know exactly who you are but I know what you are and I don't like your kind, so I'll give you two options either you leave them alone and I'll let you live or you don't and I kill you. Do make up your mind up fast I am a very busy man."

Before he could answer the guards collapsed onto him and Zoro got the answer he wanted drawing Shusui Zoro does a three-sixty splitting them all in half before turning back around to the Celestial Dragon and decapitating him easily, Zoro flicked the blood of his blade and smile at his handiwork, sheathing his blade he ignores the frozen guards who aren't sure what to do in this situation and the horrified stares of the civilians that were watching. He makes a beeline to the shore to where the ship was anchored while running there a familiar sound appeared above him as he ran he looked up and saw a very distinct shadow slam into him, though it wasn't enough to knock him over it was enough to make him stumble. Balancing himself he continues running with a large smile on his face, "It's been a while since I've seen you Draco."

The dragon let out a high-pitched growl at him, Zoro glanced at him and noticed that he seemed much larger than before this was made apparent by not only the size difference but the much larger weight on his neck, "You got a hell of a lot bigger, hell were you eating while I was asleep?"

Draco lets out an amalgamation of different sounds the only made Zoro chuckle at him, "We going to meet Nazuna at the shore go ahead first I'll make my way there eventually."

Draco let out a small huff before yipping at him and taking off and racing towards the shore at a much faster pace than Zoro, he gained a satisfied look on his face as not only did he managed to recover in half the time that was expected but also grabbed a ship that take them back to Sabaody and it was from a Celestial Dragon which he had killed. This was a bit more of an exciting return than he had last time but it was great nevertheless, to start up a journey a bang is a great way to begin and nothing was more exhilarating than murdering one of those accursed Celestial Dragons. In his past life, he never got close to killing any of them since they were all holed up in Mary Geoise and had the complete protection from the Marines that even the Revolutionary Army had difficulty breaking through.

Every encounter he had with a Celestial Dragon before had always left a bad taste in his mouth and he was determined to tear apart everything that had led to his crew's demise, Blackbeard's crew was first then the Marines before he would ultimately massacre the Celestial Dragons freeing everyone that was suffering under their control. It would take a lot of time and effort but that's exactly what he's willing to do so that the past events won't be repeated, thinking this over he would finally arrive at the ship with a single bound he jumped onto the ship, "Nazuna! Let's go I killed the bastard and a few of the guards, leaving now would cause the least trouble for us."

Nazuna grumbled and made her way to the anchor pulling it up, "Not killing them and just stealing the ship without them knowing would cause us the least trouble but you had to go ahead and kill him now didn't you."

Zoro rolled his eyes and heaved the anchor onto the ship, "If I didn't kill him it would just torture for the people on this island and I couldn't allow that."

She rolled her eyes and headed towards the ship's helm, "Are you sure you didn't just kill him to satisfy your bloodlust?"

Zoro chuckled at this, "That too but the main reason was for the livelihood of the inhabitants of this island."

Nazuna mumbled under her breath, "You keep telling yourself that."

Draco let out a loud roar as he circled above the ship before finally landing he found a spot that he found comfortably and settled down as Nazuna finally got the ship to set out. Nazuna sighed and laid against the main pillar of the ship, 'You know dealing with you is such a pain in the ass sometimes."

Zoro chuckled at her, "Don't worry about it in a few more weeks my crew should arrive and you don't have to deal with me individually as much."

She sighed in relief, "Thank god, you're just so troublesome to take care of sometimes."

Zoro ignored her and stared off into the distance placing a hand on his back, feeling the scar that had remained from the explosion it was a large and ugly thing that encompassed most of his back. Though the tattoo of his wings still remained as it seemed like it was drawn over the scar itself, this was a testament to his mistakes and what he had to do achieved what he has now along with how difficult it was to continue on this journey. Though it didn't feel like it was two years since he was unconscious for a quarter of it along with the time he spent in hell he was truly looking forward to reuniting with his crew after all this time, and as they sailed into the sea Zoro fell asleep staring off into the endless sea.

**That's a wrap, well what can I say it's been a long time since I've updated and I'm sorry, but I had exams about a week ago and I was stressed about them the entire time studying (Even though it didn't do me much good). Then right after I've been sick for a while which made it difficult to work on this since I had constant headaches and felt like throwing up a lot, but I finally got through the rest of this. I had something planned for Zoro with the Vinsmokes but I had completely forgotten what it was so I had to improvise and entirely different thing for them which lead to him washing ashore on Harby Cay, I was thinking of putting another small storyline in there but decided that I think it was about time that Zoro reunited with the crew so I just tossed the Celestial Dragon in there for him to kill instead of dragging it out any longer. So next chapter he's going to reunite with the rest of the Strawhats though I don't possess the creative capabilities to change the Strawhats much Imma just make them really similar to how they were when they emerged from the timeskip maybe with the exception of Robin since Zoro actually changed exactly what had happened to her with his appearance at the revolutionary base. I would like to say I'll get the next chapter done within the next two or three weeks but even then I don't think I will as a whole new semester of school is starting for me and I actually have to work for once to pass with a decent grade seeing as I have my worst subject ever this new semester. I'll try fit in time to complete the chapter but I would say don't get your hopes up on me updating too soon while I try to figure out what the fuck chemistry is. Once again if you're reading and enjoy it thanks for reading.**


	51. First Revelations

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

John was more or less correct as it took them about four days before they finally caught sight of Sabaody Archipelago, though he believed he was a tad bit earlier than the two-year deadline it would be fine if he stayed hung around for a few days having some fun. Though he never really thought about how to deal with the fact that he would be arriving with on the ship of a now-dead Celestial Dragon along with only two people and a dragon on the ship that was made for far more than three passengers, he would have to dispose of the ship before they arrived so not to raise any suspicions especially since he was unsure if anyone knew of him killing the Celestial Dragon since news always traveled so fast somehow. He came to the decision to get close enough to Sabaody then board a smaller boat before burning the ship to remove any evidence of it arriving anywhere near Sabaody, after that he would have to find something to do for the next couple weeks and a good place to hide out seeing as he was a wanted man especially after the incident that occurred last time he was here at Sabaody. Not only that he would also have to hide the fact that he possessed a dragon as it would do nothing but cause more unnecessary trouble for them

He sighed and got to searching for a smaller ship or even a rowboat would for them to board onto, Nazuna was packing up their things as they were reaching the final stages of this trip and were ready to disembark the ship while Draco was most likely asleep in the crow's nest. When he finally found a boat for them to work with he went to wake up Draco and inform Nazuna of his discovery before dragging the boat out, he used a rope to tie it to the ship before tossing it onto the water using the rope to keep it from straying too much before they leave. They quickly grabbed whatever they had and whatever they believed they would need for the stay before placing it all in the boat, Zoro stayed aboard for a few more minutes trying to find anything that was flammable and spreading it throughout the ship before joining them on the boat, after they got far enough away from the ship Zoro flicked a sleeping Draco and got an annoyed hiss in response, "Go fly over to the ship and set the barrel I placed next to the base of the mast on fire."

The little dragon made a sound that seemed much like a grumble of sorts before taking off towards the ship and after a few seconds the boat quickly caught fire with Draco lazily flying back to them, he plopped onto Zoro's head before returning to his sleep. Zoro lifted Draco off and gave him to Nazuna before grabbing the oars and started making his way towards the island. When they arrived at the island Zoro grabbed most of the things out of the boat before turning to Nazuna, "I'm going to go into the town and see if there's going to be any troublesome people on the island before heading towards the Thousand Sunny, you should take everything to the ship first and take Draco with you don't know how they would react to the sight of a dragon."

Nazuna chuckled hefting everything up, "I doubt Draco would join you seeing as he desperately seems to want to go to sleep more than follow you for once."

She paused for a moment before setting everything down and started rummaging through one of the bags, it took a second before she pulled a cloak out, "Here, you have to remember that you're a wanted man if there isn't anyone troublesome there then with your appearance then there's bound to be one."

Zoro took it thankfully putting it on, "You know how to get to the Thousand Sunny right?"

She nodded in response, "Don't worry about it I've got everything covered."

Zoro gave her a blank look for setting off into the town, for almost two years everything looks exactly the same though as he made his way through the town he once again found himself at the Human Auctioning House. Seeing as what had happened here last time it left a bad taste in his mouth, he wished he could destroy the entire thing now but knew better than to as it would only make things more difficult for him especially since the rest of the Strawhats were going to make their way here very soon. So with a click of his tongue, he turned around and left the area not exactly in a happy mood. Not of interest really appeared so Zoro grew bored quite quickly not sure if he should return to the ship now or patrol around for a bit longer just in case something would appear. But it appeared that everything was the same as usual since Mary Geoise was so close to this island most pirates don't want to cause any trouble, so the only people he would have to worry about would be the Marines who consisted of mostly the usual cannon fodder that wouldn't be much of a problem for him, so unless he or someone else cause something worth a fleet of Marines to arrive he should be fine.

He finally caved and decided to return to the ship this was bound to a peaceful yet stressful couple weeks as he would try to avoid all problems involving combat so not to cause too much of a commotion before the rest of the crew would arrive which he knew with his insane bloodlust would be a pain in the ass to manage. As he returned to the ship he was met with the sight of a bloodied up Kuma slowly lumbering his way towards the town, he hovered his hand over his blades at the sudden appearance of the warlord. Kuma stopped in his steps and stared at Zoro for a few moments before speaking, "Roronoa Zoro, it appears that you truly have returned."

Zoro narrowed his eyes at him, "What's that suppose to mean?"

Kuma continued on his path, "I have completed my mission your ship is safe."

Zoro glance at the gigantic figure before sighting and making his way back to the ship, "To this day still don't understand what goes on in that mind of yours."

When he arrived at the ship Nazuna was finishing up unpacking everything and Draco was scampering around the ship yipping in excitement while doing so, he hopped onto the ship and took off his cloak. Nazuna noticed him, "Was there anything that would be problematic for our stay here?"

Zoro rubbed the back of his head and slowly made his way to the crow's nest, "Besides Kuma, there shouldn't be any problems at all, that is if nothing attracts the attention of the Marines."

She nodded, "What did happen to that man anyway?"

Zoro sighed, "I never did understand him much anyway, he was always such an odd person. The only thing I truly understand about him is that he was turned into a cyborg for experimentation purposes and that he was a former member of the Revolutionary Army, besides that, I'm just as confused as you."

She furrowed her brow thinking of something as Zoro slowly climber up into the crow's nest an area he was very much familiar with, his weights still sitting where they were the day he was sent away. He reminisced for a bit of a time that was much simpler where he wasn't constantly worried about tearing down a government and was there just for the journey with his friends along with his striving for a simple goal of becoming the strongest swordsman, a much happier time that had far past. In the middle of this he suddenly remembered something, he quickly made his way down the crow's nest and past Nazuna, she looks at him confused, "Where are you going?"

Zoro hopped off the ship, "I'm going to visit an old friend."

She quirked an eyebrow before shrugging and returning to unpacking everything, Zoro slowly made his way towards an oh so familiar place, Shakky's Rip-off Bar. As he opened the door he saw Shakky sitting there alone smoking a cigarette she turns around at the sound of the door opening and smiles, "Well, I didn't expect you to return so fast you still had at least a week."

Zoro closed the door behind and sat on the barstool next to her, "All that matters is that I'm here now and I've become far stronger than I was before."

Shakky chuckles at this, "If you're looking for Rayleigh he's off coating another ship."

Zoro sighed, "I expected that for now I'll probably grab a drink and wait for him to return I've got a quite a bit of time now."

Shakky gets up and stretches heading into the bar, "If you want a drink it's going to cost you."

Zoro grumbled, "You sound so similar to Nami it's uncanny."

She chuckles at this and tosses him an entire bottle, "Drink up, knowing Rayleigh he's not going to return for a while."

Zoro rolled his eyes, "I don't need you to tell me that."

They sat drinking and conversing for a few hours as they waited for Rayleigh to return, though it takes quite a lot to get him even close to wasted it seemed that that was exactly how far they would go as when Rayleigh returned he was met with the sight of a tipsy Zoro and chuckling Shakky. He grinned at this, "Well, you've finally returned."

They both turned towards Rayleigh Zoro being quite a bit slower as it took him a second to register everything, Zoro takes a deep breath trying to sober up as much as possible for this conversation, "Yea, was a pain in the ass and had to do a lot of things to get here but I got here successfully though much earlier than I was planning to."

Rayleigh chuckled and reached over grabbing a drink for himself, "Two years have gone by hasn't it."

Zoro nodded, "Though my concept of time is a bit off it should be."

Rayleigh gave him a questioning look, "I'm going to have to ask, what've you done for the last two years?"

Zoro sighed, "A lot of weird things if you want a full story we're going to be here for quite a while."

Rayleigh reclined in his chair with an interested look on his face, "Well, you've got like two weeks and I have about twenty years left so we both got a bit of time."

Zoro started right from the beginning, "I spent a few months stuck on Kuraigana Island training with Mihawk before I left. It was about the least exciting part of the entire two years actually, I got attacked a few times by some hellhounds but they were more so to send a message so they weren't expected to be able to defeat me."

Rayleigh gave him a confused expression, "Hellhounds?"

Zoro nodded, "Yea, their these type of demonic dogs that have the ability to teleport themselves, they're like rottweilers with scars all over but the scars are filled with a fire of sorts."

Rayleigh slowly nodded imagining what it would look like as Zoro continued with his story, "Then I left the island and arrived at another island called Hell's Gate that was overrun by these weird monsters that were being summoned by a tomb, it was a really weird couple days. I had to fight a couple of powerful monsters, a titan, and like a tenth of a creature as only it's arms were able to get out of the tomb before I sealed it. I think it was because I was too tired so I didn't destroy the tomb but someone snuck in sometime after the battle and took the tomb away."

Rayleigh whistled, "When you said that a lot of weird things happened this wasn't what I expected but it's entertaining nevertheless."

Zoro sighed, "After that, there was this girl called Asuka who snuck onto my boat and followed me as I left. About a day or two later I arrived at another island whose name I don't remember which was home to two main species of creatures the dragon and the griffon who have been participating in an island-wide turf war of sorts. I got dragged into defeating the dragons cause they took Asuka and one of the griffons decided to join my journey, out of all the stowaways I had he was my favorite. While I broke Asuka out she managed to swipe one of the dragon eggs and hide it in her bag while not telling me."

Rayleigh quirked an eyebrow, "So you have a dragon and a griffon now?"

Zoro twisted his hand from side to side indicating yes and no, "Technically they both are mine but something happened so the griffon remained with Asuka while the dragon followed me."

Shakky popped in from the back of the bar, "If the dragon's with you now I would love to see it."

Zoro sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Maybe another time, he's on the Thousand Sunny right now and I'm only a bit of the way through my story."

She smiled at him, "Then I'm looking forward to meeting him and continue with your story please it's quite interesting."

Zoro cleared his throat and downed another gulp, "After that, we arrived at another island and we ran into the Revolutionary Army."

Rayleigh quirked an eyebrow, "The Revolutionary Army? Haven't heard that name in quite a while, wonder how they're doing."

Zoro shrugged, "They were doing quite well, but I ran into Robin who was with the Revolutionary Army. They were trying to return to their base but this was were the person that had stolen the tomb escaped to and he was using it to try to kill more people and managed to overwhelm the group of Revolutionaries there forcing them to abandon their ship so they were stuck there. They didn't possess the right weapons to handle the monster so they were making no progress to retaking their ship until I went and attacked the guy, but he went on quite a rant until he died. He kept on talking about his lord Satan but when he started revealing more stuff he just imploded out of nowhere and died, covered me in blood it was quite annoying and left me with a really bad feeling."

Rayleigh took a swig before asking, "Satan? Isn't he some kind of demonic lord of something?"

Zoro nodded, "He called himself the King of Demons but I'll get to that later, after that they took us to the Revolutionary Army's base and I spent a few peaceful days there until Satan acted up again sending one of his generals and an entire army of demons to try capture me. Apparently I pique his interest of something, it was a massive battle but I focused completely on defeating the general and it costed me as because of fighting the general all alone I died."

Rayleigh erupted in laughter, "Hah! You died?"

Zoro rolled his eyes and grumbled, "Yea, I died my soul was taken to heaven and I had a conversation with an angel, they tried to remove all the demonic energy within me but it didn't work and the two energies within me merged to create something much more powerful."

Rayleigh blinked, "You aren't kidding?"

Zoro continued, "Nope, that power manifested as a human and her names Nazuna I'll introduce her some other time, it was a few days to recovered and a few days to train before Satan himself came to capture me. But before that, an entire organization made to kill Satan reached out to me asking for my help, so we made a plan but things didn't go well and when I fought Satan they weren't able to track him down so I was such in Hell for a couple of months not really sure how long since I was in a cell for most of that time. They had a gladiatorial arena there and forced me to fight there, I beat most of them until my final fight where I was fighting against this giant dragonman but the day that fight happened it was also the day that Ashura had managed to break through the barrier bringing in that entire organization. I only heard what had happened during the raid since I was beaten half to death from the battle before but it was a long drawn out fight and they almost managed to defeat Satan but something intervened don't remember what."

Rayleigh chuckled, "But wouldn't that mean that he's going to be back to hunt you down again?"

Zoro sighed, "Yea, it's going to be a pain but I wasn't powerful enough to fight him then so there wasn't much I could do so I'll have to deal with the consequence some other time. After that, I spent another month or so recovering my the physical beating I got before we looked for a way off the island and that solution came in the form of the Vinsmokes that were passing by. I hitched a ride with them for a couple of days before things turned sour and I was forced to escape, the method I used to escape was a very questionable one that put me in a coma for about six months."

They looked at him in surprise, "A coma for six months? The hell did you do for that to happen?"

Zoro chuckled, "An explosion from a flame that I should have used, thanks to that my entire back is covered in scars now, in hindsight it was a terrible idea but I was tired of hiding on a ship as the entire ship tried to hunt me down. But when I awoke I was stuck on a medieval island for a couple of months to recover from my terrible idea and I didn't find a way off the island until a Celestial Dragon visited."

The two of them shared a look before carefully responding to Zoro, "What exactly happened to the Celestial Dragon?"

Zoro rubbed the back of his head before answering, "Well, I killed him and took his ship."

Rayleigh rubbed the bridge of his nose, "You know how incredibly stupid that is?"

Zoro nodded, "Of course I do, the last time we just injured a Celestial Dragon we almost died."

Rayleigh put his drink down giving Zoro an intense look, "Then why did you think killing him was a good idea?"

Zoro narrowed his eyes back at him, "I didn't, but I wasn't going to just allow him to just harm the residents that had taken care of me while I was recovering."

Rayleigh continued, "What makes you think that when they find out about his death that they won't kill everyone on that island?"

Zoro glared at Rayleigh, "Because I'm going to take the blame for it."

Rayleigh looked at him confused, "What do you mean? That would only cause more trouble for you, it would make your journey that much more difficult. Why would you do such a thing?"

Zoro sighed and took another swig of his drink, "I know but our journey was never meant to be easy, and for what I'm planning on doing it wouldn't be that bad of an idea for them to chase after me"

Rayleigh gave Zoro a cautious look, "What exactly are you planning on doing that would have an Admiral and countless Marines chasing after you being a good thing?"

Zoro gave him a blank look before responding, "The eradication of the Celestial Dragons and the noble system."

This quieted Rayleigh and Shakky as they sat there dumbfounded for a few moments before Rayleigh shook off his stupor, "That's an awfully ambitious goal you have there, countless others have tried the same thing you have and have all failed. What makes you think you could do what they could not?"

Zoro smiled at them, "The timing and a secret weapon I possess, though they increase the chances of my success it will still be a difficult journey especially for me."

Rayleigh questioned him, "Timing? Secret weapon? Unless you have one or all three of the ancient weapons no other weapon could even remotely achieve that, and timing what exactly does that mean?"

Zoro chuckled at him, "You'll just have to wait and see, a lot of things are going to happen and you yourself will have to prepare for the changing of this world. The only question is if you're prepared for it or not."

Rayleigh stared at him silently for a few moments before erupting in laughter, "Two years and it seems like you've completely changed, you've become far more ambitious than I could ever imagine. Though I caution you not to let your ambitions consume you or you'll pay the price for it."

Zoro snorted and took another bottle of sake, "It wouldn't matter if I'm consumed by it or not I just have to achieve it for it all to be worth it."

Rayleigh quieted down a bit but his amused expression still remained, "That's a dangerous mindset you got there ain't healthy for anyone to think like that."

Zoro waved him off, "Bah! It's fine, but you should prepare yourself, Rayleigh, the world will change and it will do so quickly. If you aren't prepared for it, it'll sweep you along before you disappear before the raging tides."

Rayleigh chuckled, "Ominous but duly noted, now enough with these depressing talks lets have a party!"

Zoro shook his laugh while laughing, "You're quite old is that much alcohol good for your system?"

Rayleigh waved him off, "What are you just too scared to be drunk under the table by an old man?"

Zoro rolled his eyes and stepped forward, "Try me, old man!"

~Two Weeks Later~

Zoro woke up buried in a mound of bottles once again, ever since he returned to Sabaody he'd been drinking an insane amount with Rayleigh which lead to him almost waking up every day like this. If anyone said he drank a lot they have never met Rayleigh as a Seventy-Eight-year-old man he drank more than anyone could even imagine and never even seemed to have a hangover as he would just get up from the night before like nothing happened. As Zoro looked around he saw rayleigh sitting peacefully with a cup of coffee in his hand chuckling at Zoro, Zoro groaned, "Can it old man."

Rayleigh chuckled even more, "You should get prepared soon."

Zoro looked at him confused, "Why?"

Rayleigh quirked an eyebrow, "Don't you know what day it is?"

Zoro blinked a couple of times trying to remember before jumping to the conclusion, "The rest of the Strawhats are arriving today aren't they?"

Rayleigh nodded and Zoro shot up with a groan he started running straight towards the door while putting his shirt back on, "SHIT!"

As Zoro left the bar Shakky emerged from the back of the bar seemingly having just wakened, "So the rest of them are arriving today, took them long enough."

Rayleigh chuckled at her, "He was never supposed to arrive this early so technically they didn't take that long since their on time."

Shakky rolled her eyes, "You know what I'm talking about, though things are going to get much quieter without him around."

Rayleigh looked out the window, "He's only just left and you already miss him?"

She chucked a bottle at him in response, "That's not the reason, it's the fact that you just disappear all of a sudden all the time."

Rayleigh chuckled while dodging all the bottles she was throwing at him, "The kids going to be on a hell of a journey especially with what he's hoping to achieve."

Shakky lit another cigarette for herself, "Do you think he could actually do it though?"

Rayleigh's smile falters slightly and he turned back to the window, "I'm not really sure, I expect great things from the Strawhats but I never even considered something like this especially from the one in the group that seemed the least concerned with how the world currently is. I guess only time will tell if he'll be able to achieve it though him foreshadowing a wave of change that will sweep all those unprepared is slightly concerning, especially the way he targeted it towards me."

Shakky sighed, "He's hiding something I'm pretty sure you picked up on it too."

Rayleigh nodded, "But if he isn't willing to talk about it then I won't pry, let him sort out all his issues himself."

~With Zoro~

He rushed back to his ship to find Nazuna who he had assigned to guard the ship along with Draco and was hoping that none of the Strawhats would arrive before he had so to avoid any complications. As he rushed towards the ship he gripped his head trying to stifle the hangover he had so it would hurt less as he ran, as he was making his way there he ran into a very large hooded person. Stumbled a bit and turned around glaring at him the figure glared back though his pupils seemed to shine inside the hood, Zoro caught sight of blond hair accompanied with a long scar down the side of his mouth before he pulled his hood closer, "Watch where you're going."

Zoro stared for a few more seconds before shaking his head and continued towards the ship flipping the man off while doing so, "It couldn't be him could it?"

When he finally caught sight of the ship he let out a sigh of relief seeing that it seemed practically untouched meaning that no one had arrived yet, he stopped right in front of the ship kneeling by the water and cupping his hands gathering some of the water to splash his face. He didn't look like complete shit but all the heavy drinking was causing him to be a bit paler than he wanted to be, with a grunt he hopped onto the ship and called out, "Nazuna!"

It would take a few seconds but she would finally appear as her head popped out of the kitchen, "What?"

Zoro walked up to her, "The rest of the Strawhats are arriving today."

She looked at him confused, "And?"

Zoro groaned, "Hide yourself."

She gave him an odd look, "Why should I do that?"

Zoro sighed, "Because no one knows who you are so if you were to just stay on the ship and one of them was to arrive at the ship and see you it could cause complications."

Nazuna looked like she wanted to argue but it died in her throat and she sighed, "Fine."

With that, she dissolved into flames and flew towards Zoro forming one of the few tattoos on Zoro that seemed to be missing ever since Nazuna was first formed, he never really noticed but he filed that away for later now he would focus on the other problem on the ship Draco. He wasn't sure how to deal with him but believe that the rest of the Strawhats wouldn't think much of it if he was next to it, he paused for a second, "I could have done the same for Nazuna."

He shrugged chalking that up to his head still fuzzy after a night of heavy drinking prior, he called once again, "Draco!"

The creature slammed into him causing his headache to grow stronger as he slammed into the ground, opening one eye and gripping his head he looked up to see Draco on his chest panting like a dog. He once again noticed that Draco appeared to have grown even bigger than before, he wasn't sure what was going on but this seemed unnatural but then again what did he know about dragon biology. He pushed Draco off and rubbed the back of his head, "If you're this big try not to do things like that especially when I have a hangover."

Draco gave him a low growl in response and Zoro continued, "The rest of the crews going to arrive soon, try not to cause any trouble alright."

Draco huffed in response and walked over to the center pillar and curling into a ball and quickly falling asleep, Zoro sighed and went to the railing of the ship leaning over he stared off into the distance. He'd been so preoccupied with Rayleigh and Shakky's constant drinking that he didn't even have time to think about the return of the rest of his crew, he didn't know what to think, his time spent in hell gave him a new appreciation for his comrades. He sighed at this and got up deciding not to wait around and instead go searching for them as he was very impatient, "Draco go up to the crow's nest I'm going to go looking for them."

The dragon grumbled in response and slowly got up yawning while doing so and flying up to the crow's nest, Zoro jumped off the ship and headed into the town in search for his crew. He also remembered that there being copy-cats at Sabaody when they were here last time, he never ran into them last time he was here but since he was bored he might as well go and clean up some trash. He walked up towards one of the recruiting signs and smiled, he turned towards one of the passersby, "Do you know where the Strawhats are?"

The man looked at him cautiously before answering, "They planned to have everyone joining the fleet meet at Grove 7 in two hours, but I heard someone saying that they saw them messing around in a bar down there."

Zoro smiled and patted the man on the back, "Thanks."

He tosses a gold coin at him before walking towards the bar, he was ready to challenge them though he didn't want to tear up an establishment he was ready for anything. He entered to hear a commotion growing and walked in to see a large man in a Strawhat along with an open tank top that was far too small for him pointing a gun at someone, "Bitch when I say you come and have a drink with us you come over here."

Zoro chuckled and kicked a chair at them having it slam into the fake Luffy or Demaro Black yelp in pain and drop the gun, "When a lady says no you listen to her or your going to be in for a hell of an experience buddy."

Demaro glared at him and tried to pick up his gun but Zoro was much faster than him shooting forward he kicks the gun out of the way and unsheathed one of his blades placing the tip of it mere millimeters from his face, "Well how about you guys stop causing trouble and leave this establishment peacefully, unless you're willing to try to fight me. In which I'm fully willing to let happen though you may not enjoy the result."

The man was stupid but not stupid to fight someone like Zoro especially with the dark look in his eye he huffed and turned around storming out of the bar followed by the rest of the false group. Zoro turns around and is body-slammed by an oranged-haired woman, "Zoro!"

He stumbled a bit before stabilizing himself and getting a good look at who had run into him, she lifted her face up and smiled at him. Zoro instantly recognized who it was and chuckled, "Nice to see you too Nami."

She let go and giggled at him, "It's been two years and that's all you've got to say?"

Zoro rolled his eyes and headed towards the exit, "There isn't need for any more words."

She pouts at this and follows after him but they were stopped by a man hidden behind a hat, "Now you swiped my chance for a flashy entrance."

Zoro quirked an eyebrow before snorting when the man popped his hat up a bit revealing an unnaturally long nose, "Can it Usopp, I got things to do and allowing you to play around with theatrics is not on my schedule."

Usopp grumbles and mutters something about muscle-heads not being able to appreciate true art, but Zoro continued forward not breaking his stride, "You guys should return to the ship I'm going to gather the rest of the crew myself."

Usopp gave him an odd look, "Why are you telling us to do everything?"

Zoro rolled his eyes, "I'm not but having people not be separated would a much better idea than being completely separated so if the Marines try to chase it down it would be easier to escape since everybody's together."

Usopp sighed, "Fine, we'll head back. Is anyone else there right now?"

Zoro shrugged his shoulders, "I don't believe so, you guys are the first people I ran into since I left the ship."

Nami grumbled and punched his shoulder, "We've got two years to catch up on don't go and get injured or disappear like others time alright?"

Zoro chuckled and rubbed his shoulders, "Alright."

He headed towards Grove 7 hoping to intercept the group of fakes and knock them out, leaving them for the Marines to deal with them. Though knowing Nami she would love to turn them in themselves for the bounties but they were also pirate so it was unlikely they would probably chase them all down without giving the money unless they got someone to turn the bounties in for them was not something he believed he had the time for as he searched for the single most troublesome member of their crew, Luffy.

He jogged towards grove 7 and saw the large groups of people gathered for the recruitment, he entered one of the empty buildings and watched carefully for his targets to emerge. They finally did and Zoro was about to make his move before a group Pacifista's appeared, Zoro felt a bit odd as he knew exactly that this was going to happen but shook the feeling off and continued to watch. He saw someone within the crowd of pirates that really stood out, he smiles knowing exactly who it was. He shook his head and slowly heads down the building deciding to let events run by themselves and interfere when he's needed which he ultimately wouldn't need to. As Luffy would be completely unscathed even against three Pacifista's, he decided to head back to the ship seeing as he wouldn't really be needed here.

Heading back to the ship he knew that Franky and Brook would find their own way there but was unsure of how Robin and Chopper returned, so he paused for a bit and climbed a building keeping an open eye for them. He sat there for a few seconds scanning the area before ultimately finding Robin and Chopper being accompanied by Nami who was riding on a bubble bike, he stared at the form of transportation and shook his head still not wrapping his head around such a weird creation. With that, he heads back to the ship satisfied knowing that all the crew would be accounted for, he jumped off the building and slowly walked back enjoying the few minutes of peace before he would once again be joined by his crewmates. It had been a long time coming and he had already experienced this once before but it was still a great feeling being reunited with them once again, he arrived at the ship to find Franky already there, the man did his usual super-pose to catch Zoro's attention. He climbed up the ship to find that the rest of the crew had arrived before he had, they were all laughing and enjoying each other's company, the only thing he could do now was smile and join in on the fun.

**That's a wrap, I managed to finish this chapter a lot faster than I would have imagined but I'm kind of thankful, wasn't sure how I should have done for this chapter so I had a bit of a recap of what happened during the timeskip period and a bit of what I'm planning to take the story in. I'm starting to figure out how I want to end this story and things are gonna get real bloody real fast when we reach that point, but that won't happen for a long while. I may be able to work on this story a bit more than I used to due to the fact that my siblings are dragging me out ever Saturday so I just camp out at a Starbucks for a few hours so I can study and when I'm done with that I can work on the story so I ain't complaining too much for now especially with how long this chapter is, longest one yet 6.5k words ya'll. But ya boi sucks ass at Chemistry and I'm not trying to fail any classes especially with how bad my grades were last semester so later on it'll slow down a bit again most likely around early March till late June but we'll see until then. I'm going to try finish the next chapter within the next two weeks but with things starting up a bit I might not be able to so I'm sorry. But once again if you're reading this and enjoy it, thanks for reading.**


	52. Descending the Depths

**Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man**

The ship descending into the sea as they made their way towards Fishman Island, Zoro was once again cooped up in the crow's nest finally reunited with his former weights training beyond human limits. The crew was spending most of their current time reconnecting but Zoro had opted not to do so instead deciding to train, they would drag him out eventually anyway but he would let them have their fun for now and would focus on a bit of training as getting as strong as he could, would be preferable for the coming future. Not that it was ever not his goal to become the most powerful but he was more determined than ever to get stronger especially after what he did on Harby Cay, they were going to be after him not only because he was a pirate but also because he had murdered a Celestial Dragon.

He was so distracted with his thoughts that he didn't even notice when someone had entered the crow's nest, she was able to sneak up on him and smack him on the back before he would be able to notice her. This caused him to jump dropping his gigantic dumbbell and entering a defensive stance ready to strike whoever had done that, he grumbled when he saw who it was, "God damn it don't sneak up on me like that, Robin."

She giggled at him and sat down beside him, obviously amused with his reaction, "We all just got reunited and what you're doing is hiding up here again and training?"

He grumbled at her, "As much as I enjoy being together again I still have a long way to go before I reach the strength required."

She placed her head on her hand with sighed, "But you can't even take a day or two off from training?"

Zoro shook his head, "I took far more than a day off from training while we were separated so I can't let up for even a moment now."

She quirked an eyebrow but chuckled instead, she stood up and kissed him on the cheek before heading down, "I'm not going to tell you not to train but try to have some fun too, everyone was so excited to be together again, so try to make some time for them."

Zoro grunted acknowledging her statement but returning to his training, he would come down later but for now, he would train. But was immediately interrupted when Nami popped up from the hatch glaring at him, "Zoro!"

Zoro sighed and turned around meeting the fiery red-heads gaze, "Stop training for one god damn minute and come here and have a drink with the rest of us."

He glared at her and wanted to say something but she threw one of the smaller dumbbells at him forcing him to dodge, "What's wrong with you stop throwing things at me!"

She rolled her eyes and walked over grabbing the back of his shirt and started dragging him out of the crow's nest, Zoro just grabbed onto the side of the wall and completely stopped her as she was unable to move his much larger frame. She glared at him and he responded, "Stop trying, you're not going to be able to move me."

She grumbled then kicked him in the shin and left with a huff, he rubbed his shin in annoyance before sighing and leaning back. He admits that he had isolated himself ever since they reunited but something in him was telling him to let them have their fun before he would join them, it wasn't that he didn't want to be with them but something was making him avoid them. There was just this odd feeling that had surfaced which told him that staying away from them would be the smarter idea, for now at least but he didn't like this feeling. He sat there silent for a few moments contemplating what to do before sighing and heading towards the hatch, he climbed down the ladder to see the rest of the Strawhat crew still partaking in the festivities as countless numbers of barrels filled with alcohol were consumed.

He jumped down with a thump and a smile on his face, "Got any more for me?"

Luffy snapped his neck towards him and barreled into him with an excited look on his face, "Zoro! I thought you weren't even going to come down from the crow's nest which is weird seeing as we have alcohol down here!"

Zoro chuckled and pushed Luffy away from him while grabbing the mug out of his hands and taking a huge gulp from it, "You know there was no way that I would miss out on some sake."

He chuckled and pushed Luffy off to Usopp while he dropped the mug and went to grab a barrel when he passed by Nami she glared at him and turned away with a huff taking a sip of her own mug, Zoro rubbed the back of his head and continued forward deciding to deal with her another time. Robin approached him from behind, "Nice to see you actually coming down, I honestly didn't expect you to come down on your own."

Zoro rolled his eyes grabbing the large barrel and hefting it over his head, "There was sake out that was enticing enough for me to come down without you guys trying to goad me into doing it."

She giggled at this before hugging his arm, "Well, do enjoy yourself who knows when the next time we'll get an opportunity to enjoy such peace."

She smiled at him while he gave her a blank look before she let go of him and returned to her corner opening her book, he gave her an odd look before beginning to drown himself in sake trying to rid himself of the unsettling feeling with intoxication. He put the barrel down and stared into the dark abyss while they partied away around him, he was meant to be happy but it felt like there was something else there, like someone was watching them from within the water. From what he had heard from Nazuna the Divine Six Wings had failed to defeat Satan so this was his main assumption of what was going on, a servant of Satan following them to look for an opportunity to kill him or just to study him.

Zoro was so concentrated on his thoughts that he didn't even notice when Surume the giant octopus emerged the screams of panic from Nami and the excited yelling from Luffy was completely ignored by him. He knew that Satan would be coming for him once again though he was unsure when he would do so along how exactly he was going to come for him as he was sure that Satan knew better than to just go straight for him as Ashura was bound to stop him, that was if Satan personally came for him if he were to send a soldier as strong as Tyrranth or something like that then Zoro himself would have to deal with it. Though the chances of him being defeated were far less then if he were to fight Satan it would still be terrible for him as Satan would be able to endlessly send more and more men as an attempt on his life. He himself was fine with them coming after him but that same feeling couldn't be said about endangering his crew in such a manner, he shook his head ridding himself of those thoughts for now before turning towards the creature that was threatening their ship.

He took a step forward ready to take on the creature but he paused when his entire surround turned pitch black, he instantly hovered his hand over the hilt of his blades, he looked around cautiously confused about where he was. As he did this a loud booming voice emerged from the darkness, _"You aren't wrong human, I will come for you once again and your demon friends can do little to stop me this time."_

Zoro growled at him, "Ashura almost defeated you in your own domain last time what makes you think he won't be able to kill you this time around!"

Satan let out a booming laugh, _"It matters not."_

The darkness around him shifted and changed to a much more colorful scene though it created no happy image for him as he was met with the sight of the Thousand Sunny, he would have thought that he had been released from the hallucination if it were not for the sea of blood surrounding the ship and the raging fire that encompassed the entire ship with weird white-winged creatures floating around it and screeching. He knew that what he was seeing wasn't real but he couldn't stop the feeling of dread from seeping into him, _"Ahh, fire, an element that even you have basic control of, don't you just love the smell of fire and brimstone."_

Zoro seemed unable to move his body as some unknown power seemed to drag him forward into the ship to display the bodies of his crew all bloodied up and broken, his dread grew even stronger as the way they were scattered and battered was far too similar to how they were when they had fallen in Raftel. He clenched the hilt of his blade in rage and searched for Satan to find that he was still unable to move his body, _"Isn't this a fabulous sight, a world dominated by monsters of the night rather than you pathetic humans, a world where I reign supreme!"_

Zoro growls, "You ba-!?"

He was cut off as blood filled his throat and shot out of his mouth, shakily he looked down to see a white three-pronged trident pierced through his chest. The clouds above him shifted to form the face of Satan who sported a look of twisted glee, _"Now I wouldn't do that if I was you, I may not be able to physically harm you currently but I am able to tear you apart mentally, your mind is my plaything to toy with human."_

Zoro took a step forward only to collapse as the trident was ripped out of his chest before being impaled into his leg, _"Now now, we're in no rush, we can just take out time and enjoy every moment of this. Well, I will, you not so much."_

Zoro grunted in pain before looking up to see one of those winged creatures in front of him, he finally got a good look at the creature to see that it didn't possess a pair of eyes where eyes usually would be. Instead, it had multiple eyes decorating different parts of his body along with two pairs of wings on his back one of its back and one of the back of its hip. Its face was missing many key features that usually make up a face, with its face was completely covered with what seemed like a batch of feathers. But despite the lack of a mouth it seemed to take a deep breath before screeching in his face, "Piss off you you angel looking shit bag."

It stood straight up to tower over his hunched over body as more of these creatures started to gather around Zoro, in his hand a bronze axe appeared, _"As much as I would love to drag this out longer, but I got other things to do. So for now just live with the image of your past failures and your incoming future."_

The creature raised his axe and brought it down right down the middle of Zoro's head, leading to a world of pain as though this wasn't physically happening to him it felt like it was as Satan's hallucinations deceived his senses making it seem like it was physically happening to him. His vision swam as multiple images cycled through before he clamped his eyes closed before cautiously opening his eyes to find himself back on the Thousand Sunny he blinked slowly to make sure that he was actually back, "You alright Zoro?"

He turned towards the voice to see a slightly concerned Robin standing over him, "It's nothing just a bit tired."

She gave him an odd look before joining the rest of the crew and stopping Luffy from jumping out of the ship, he got up slowly and stared down the giant octopus. He took a step forward before feeling something trail down his face, he stopped and put his hands up to his face to find a trail of blood coming from his eye. Growling he wipes the blood off and heads towards Surume intent to distract himself, in a single stride he shot off the ship, "Ashura Hakai!"

He brought the blade down in a powerful strike dismembering two of Surume's massive tentacles surprising the giant beast, he didn't attack again afterward only giving Surume a harsh glare which worked well enough as Surume froze and seemed hesitant to attack again and instead slowly started to slink away back into the darkness. Zoro sat down in the bubble he was in and huffed annoyed not specifically at how easily Surume backed off but more so of the hallucination that he had experienced at the hands of Satan. His bubble rejoined with the ship's larger one and Luffy immediately rushed him with an annoyed look on his, "Why did you go for him? I wanted to fight him!"

Zoro grabbed Luffy's head to stop him from getting close to him with a blank look on his face, "You were too slow that's on you Luffy so don't blame it on me."

Luffy was grumbling as he tried to desperately hit Zoro, he shrugged him off and pushed Luffy into Usopp and the both of them collapsed as Luffy pouted. Zoro went back to his barrel of sake as Chopper followed behind him look fascinated, "You got so much stronger Zoro."

Zoro chuckled at Chopper and rubbed his head before grabbing a bottle of milk for him, "You can be that strong too."

Chopper pushed his hat up and his eyes shown with excitement, "Really! I can be as strong as you?!"

Zoro smiled and nodded, "Of course you can, you just gotta train and you'll eventually be this strong."

Chopper jumped up with a confident look on his face and punching the air, "I'm going to be stronger than you Zoro!"

Zoro smirked, "I'll be waiting for that day then."

Chopper ran off to join Usopp and Luffy as they played around with whatever they found, Nami approached him sighing, "Was it a really good idea to let that octopus go? There's a chance that your situation would come to bite us in the ass later."

Zoro shrugged, "Well, I'll deal with it if it ever came back for us so don't worry about it, it isn't going to be a problem."

Nami grumbled and this and went to join the rest of the crew as Zoro sat alone at the railing gulping down another barrel of sake, once he finished the barrel he leaned back and looked up towards the slowly fading sunlight. He grabbed another barrel and lifted it up towards the last ray of light, "See you on the other side."

He downed the barrel and tossed it aside and moved his gaze towards the rest of his crew for one last look before closing his eyes and falling asleep, things were going to be hectic when he woke up but for now, this little slice of paradise will keep him company.

~A Few Hours Later~

He awoke to a giant jolt and pushed off the barrels that had fallen atop of him, he opened one eye to see what was going on only to find a projectile on track to impale his head, he moved his head to the side at the last second to avoid it. He sighed and opened both eyes and took a look around to find that the Thousand Sunny had landed on Fishman Island, he got up slowly and saw a group of Fishman rushing towards him. He knew what was going to happen and knew exactly what to do, with a groan he jumped off the ship slowly moving towards the group unsheathing his blades. Landing he sways slightly before steadying himself and shooting forward he disarmed them easily before cutting into their Achilles heel to disable them. He shook the blood off his blade before he turned back towards the ship searching for his crew, he found them easily as Luffy was screaming loudly and in his usual excited manner.

He sheathed his blades and slowly headed back towards them, "Are we here?"

Nami emerged from behind the yelling Luffy looking at the log pose, "Yes we have, though with how many Fishman with weapons are rushing towards us it seems this isn't going to be a joyful entrance once again."

Luffy disposed of them easily as Nami started to think of what to do, Zoro zoned out during this and would awaken later when Usopp woke him up telling him that they had stumbled upon Camie and were going to head towards Pappag's house. Zoro was never one too impressed by glamorous homes but even he could admit that Pappag had a very nice house, though he didn't give off and reaction for the rest of the crew to see. As usual Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper rush forward without a care in the world to take in the sights of the new island, Zoro, on the other hand, had decided to wander on his own for a while seeing as this would be the little bit of time before things would go wrong. Wandering around aimlessly brought forth a simple type of joy that Zoro didn't know he had, not the same type of joy as downing endless amounts of Sake or training or sleeping but still joy. Even though he refused to die before achieving his goal and Luffy's goal he knew that he was never going to live out a peaceful life like those around him as no matter what happened he was destined to one die on a battlefield dyed in not only the blood of his foes but his own. But to know that others would be able to live in such a way was comforting as he knew that was most likely what would happen to the rest of the Strawhats after they had completed their goals, he laughed at his own thoughts as he never once thought of such a life for himself as the very idea of him settle down to a peaceful life was just seemed laughable to him as he could never imagine himself living a life free of fighting.

He shrugged the thought off for another day and decided that he had enough sight-seeing for now and turned towards Ryugu palace, even though Neptune would come for the Strawhats soon enough he knew that would turn out badly faster than he wanted to so he would down as much sake as he could and take a nap even faster before he would be forced to fight. Getting to Ryugu palace was a bit more difficult than he expected but he got there regardless headed straight towards the food storages, as he was heading there he would come across a few Fishmen who would panic before returning with the Minister of the Right who would then invite Zoro to join in the banquet. He shrugged and followed after them quickly deciding to let things run there course this time around seeing no need to change anything, he would just enjoy the sake and food given to him for now instead. He had his fill ignoring everyone else that was there including any of his crew that would arrive, it wouldn't be too long before he would awaken again this time in a cage along with Usopp and Brook. He shook his head and stood up ignore the screams of Usopp who was panicking as the water level began to rise, he unsheathed Wado Ichimonji and easily cut through the bars of the cage and walked through annoyed at his now water-soaked shoes he saw Neptune also being held captive and sighed knowing that another annoyance had emerged this time being a very arrogant Fishman, Hody Jones.

He ignored all the chaos around him and made a beeline straight for him, "Ittoryu: Yakkodori!"

Hody laughed at the crescent projectile and grab one of the Fishman standing next to him used his body to block the shot, Zoro knew this was going to happen and instead of being shocked continues in his attack. Zoro heard his speaking but grumbled and ignored every word knowing that it was just going to be another villain monologue that meant absolutely nothing, the water was rising and he knew better than to let a Fishman drag a battle underwater, even if they were technically already underwater. The water was starting to rise above his knee and he this would hamper his movement soon enough so he planned to end this fast, he stopped for a moment and got into a lower stance focusing on his legs, deciding that he would still have a while before getting into any serious fights so he could experiment with a few things. He set fire to his blade and put it into the water curious to see if Ashura's flames would be able to withstand normal water, to his surprise it did and he traced his blade around his foot which made the water around his feet steam, he used this and shot forward practically skating on the water towards Hody.

Hody laughed at him and Zoro laughed back with an attack, "Ittoryu lai: Shi Shishi Sonson!"

The rest of the New Fishman Pirates watched in shock as their leader Hody was easily trounced, Zoro chuckled at this and lifted his foot inspecting the flame that was covering the bottom of his foot. It had weirdly enough changed from it's usual color of black to a more cyan color, he didn't know what it meant but this flame seemed to be less of a destructive flame and more of a power-up that made him faster than he usually was especially on such different terrain. This did beg the question of exactly what else these flames could do and what other types of flames that he could create with the one he currently had, he would think that he had until Luffy and the others arrived at Wano after them to figure everything out. If he took any longer than that it would be dangerous as the war with Kaido would be waging by that time and it would be far too late for him. It was not as much time as he would have wished for but it was still enough time for him to experiment and figure out everything he needed to know about the flames he controlled, though with the added addition of Nazuna it puts a whole new element to the flames he possessed, he would have Nazuna sort that out herself so that would spare more time for his own abilities. He cursed when he noticed that while distracted the water had risen even farther not reaching up to his chest, he waded through the water and heads towards Neptune.

He notices that Neptune is unmoving on his back, "Hey, what's wrong with you? Hody is down for now but we need to get moving, I can't fight to my full capacity underwater, the coward can't really fight, and the skeleton is completely useless once water touches him. Looking at you and your men I don't think you guys can really put up a fight against Hody or his men, so let's get out of here now."

Neptune gave what Zoro assumed was a glare before getting up slowly, he called out for Hoe his whale it wouldn't take a few moments before the creature appeared they all got onto the beast, Zoro waited a bit longer to stay near the tail of the beast. He waited for Hody to appear again and as he expected the Fishman wouldn't give up on his prey that easily and tried to latch onto the tail of the whale to stop them from leaving. He wouldn't allow this to happen, "Sanbyakurokuju Poundo Ho!"

Hody watched the oncoming strike and was stuck between either holding on and getting hit or letting go of his target but avoiding the blow, fear won over leading Hody to let go of Hoe. Zoro sat back still keeping a careful eye on Hody to make sure he wouldn't try anything else but he was focused on the wrong thing as a bunch of Hody's crewmates blocked Hoe from leaving the palace which ultimately annulled his efforts, Zoro growled and went to try blow past them quickly but Hody shot forward trying to catch Zoro off guard. Zoro clicked his tongue in annoyance as he was forced to block the trident which was all the time that Hody's crew needed to bring Hoe crashing down and Zoro back into the water, he shook his head in annoyance and stayed afloat as Hody's crew started rounding everyone up.

Hody swam over to him with a smug look on his face, "I'm going to make you pay for that attack human."

Zoro grunted as they slowly closed in on him, he stayed silent as this happen he kept a careful eye to see if there was any way for him to get out. It would be difficult but it was still possible for him to get out of there, though it would be difficult for the rest of them to escape without him they would still be able to pull it off. He let them get closer before finally making his move, "Kokujo: O Tatsumaki!"

Not only did the attack blow all the Fishmen away it also displaced a large amount of the water enough for Zoro to move as fast as he usually would, with this he finally makes his move taking a deep breath and rushing past everyone. He charges at the wall and ready's an attack, "Ichi Gorilla, Ni Gorilla! Nigori-Zake!"

He burst through the wall with a bang and falls out of Ryugu Palace, he would be lying if he said that he had planned for this part but he wasn't complaining at the moment as he had successfully got away from the New Fishman Pirates or whatever they called themselves. Though he got away from the worst of his current problems it was replaced with the very precarious situation facing him, plummeting from thousands of feet up the air, "Senhachiju Poundo Ho!"

He used the projectile to soften the landing but as much as that reduced the impact it would still rattle his bones as he slammed into the ground, "Ahh fuck! God remind me to never do that again."

Nazuna manifested in front of him, "You do know that you have wings right?"

Zoro got up slowly cracking his neck, "Damn it forgot about them, haven't used them in so long that I didn't even remember that they existed."

He strained his neck to look up and stare at Ryugu Palace for a few moments before shaking his head in annoyance and walking towards Gyoncorde Plaza, the rest of the Strawhats would find their way there eventually so might as well just get their earlier himself and watch the place descend into chaos.

He turned towards Nazuna, "Hide in Luffy's shadow and when they start making their way towards Gyoncorde Plaza come and find me."

Nazuna nodded and immediately broke down into a shadow and disappeared, Zoro looked up at Ryugu Palace one more time before quickly heading towards Gyoncorde Plaza. It wouldn't take him too long to get there and he would climb up one of the buildings surrounding Gyoncorde Plaza. He got to the roof and laid back keeping an eye on the center of the plaza, he glanced back at Ryugu Palace to see if anything had happened since he arrived and though he wasn't able to catch every detail it seemed that a commotion had risen since he left. It wouldn't be much longer before they would arrive but Zoro wouldn't make his move yet, not until Nazuna returned with the news that Luffy had started to head out. He was still uncertain of what to do afterward as he knew Luffy would manage to anger another Yonko, Big Mom, and that was just trouble for everyone, letting events transpire as they did before was less likely to mess with the timeline that he was familiar with but were certain aspects of those timelines truly necessary was something he was uncertain of. He would have the next couple hours to figure out his next course of action but regardless of the answer, he wasn't going to like it.

**That's a wrap, I'm really sorry that I put this chapter off for god knows how long but ever since I came back from summer I haven't really had the motivation to write as I did before. That's bad in of itself but the Fishman Island arc was one of the more forgettable arcs for me and I've just been rewatching most of the arc to try to finish this chapter which took even more time than I wanted too but ultimately I got it done, like two months later than I usually would but I digress. Honestly, I feel like I'm just kind of stalling for time since Wano is still going on and that's one arc I really don't want to ruin in any way but there's barely any material for me to work with at the moment and also a problem with Whole Cake Island, cause you know Zoro isn't in that arc at all so I'm kinda brainstorming things to deal with that problem. ****Once again if you're reading this and enjoy it thank you.**


End file.
